G D Searle Co

The once widely used Copper-7 intrauterine contraceptive device was back on trial Monday, and plaintiffs' attorneys said they were armed with internal documents never before used against the G. D. Searle & Co. product. The Minneapolis law firm Robins, Zelle, Larson & Kaplan, which represented plaintiffs in earlier litigation against Dalkon Shield maker A. H. Robins Co., settling 198 cases for a total of $38 million, also is representing the plaintiffs in the case against Searle.

An advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration recommended for approval the first of a new class of drugs designed to work as well as existing analgesics but without painful, dangerous side effects. FDA advisors in Silver Spring, Md., voted to back G. D.

The assault on the pharmaceutical industry broadened Thursday as several of the nation's largest drugstore chains, including Los Angeles-based Thrifty Corp., sued seven leading drug makers in federal court for alleged price-fixing and antitrust violations. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pa., accuses drug makers American Home Products Corp., Schering-Plough Corp.

G. D. Searle & Co. has agreed to settle all claims and lawsuits over alleged injury from the use of its Copper-7 contraceptive device that were brought by a law firm representing more than 100 such clients, a company spokeswoman said Thursday. Searle spokeswoman Kay Bruno said the agreement, which still requires approval from clients represented by the Minneapolis law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi of Minneapolis, bars disclosure of the settlement's terms and conditions, including the number of claims settled.

A senior federal judge in Los Angeles has declared a mistrial in a major product liability case against G.D. Searle & Co., asserting that the acrimonious proceedings were keeping him awake nights and threatening to give him ulcers. U.S.

The Food and Drug Administration announced approval of a new prescription drug it said can prevent stomach ulcers that afflict some of the millions of people who take medicine for arthritis. To be marketed under the trade name Cytotec by G. D. Searle of Skokie, Ill., the drug--misoprostol--is to be labeled for use in patients at high risk for developing complications of stomach ulcers while on arthritis drugs. That would include the elderly and patients of any age with another serious illness.

G. D. Searle & Co. has agreed to settle all claims and lawsuits over alleged injury from the use of its Copper-7 contraceptive device that were brought by a law firm representing more than 100 such clients, a company spokeswoman said Thursday. Searle spokeswoman Kay Bruno said the agreement, which still requires approval from clients represented by the Minneapolis law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi of Minneapolis, bars disclosure of the settlement's terms and conditions, including the number of claims settled.

G. D. Searle & Co. kicked off its 100th anniversary Wednesday with a splashy 10-city media promotion of a company plan to give away millions of dollars in free drugs to needy patients. Searle executives appeared on the "Today" show. In Atlanta, it was "G. D. Searle Day." In Washington, Howard University Hospital officials joined the Skokie, Ill., drug company's director of marketing for a press conference.