PHILADELPHIA -- What may be the first personal injury lawsuits involving
SmithKline Beecham Corp.'s LYMErix Lyme disease vaccine were filed June 12
in Pennsylvania state court.
(Complaint available. Document # 28-000620-102. 34 pages.)
The four complaints filed in the Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia County
claim that SmithKline Beecham sought FDA approval and marketed the vaccine
although it knew that it could trigger an autoimmune response in 30
percent
of the population and that it could aggravate persons already exposed to
Lyme disease.
In one case, plaintiff Lydia Marra claims that she had a reaction to her
first two LYMErix injections -- the vaccine is given in three doses -- and
as a result continues to experience pain and is at risk for developing
severe arthritis and possible neurological damage. It says that persons
who
are positive for a genetic condition known as HLA-DR4+ are predisposed to
autoimmune disease which, when exposed to a protein in the Lyme bacterial,
can develop treatment-resistant Lyme arthritis.
06/12/00
