03/01/2003

A top executive for Bayer was grilled for close to eight hours in a Nueces County courtroom Friday in the first Baycol drug case to go to trial in the nation.

The attorneys for an 82-year-old Corpus Christi man suffering from a muscular disorder displayed company documents, trying to show that the drug manufacturer Bayer knew about the dangers of its cholesterol-lowering drug and tried to maximize profits at the expense of patients.

The witness, head of Bayer's world regulatory affairs, Lawrence Posner, spent almost as much time trying to explain the company's policy and the context of the documents.

He said the company always shared reliable information with the public and never pushed an unsafe drug for profit.

The plaintiff's lawyer, Mikal Watts, complained to the judge that Posner wasn't answering his questions and was giving him speeches.

The judge agreed, and told Bayer's lawyer to make the witness answer the questions.

"I don't think he understands the English language,'' said County Court-at-Law Judge James Klager at one point.

The defense was unable to cross-examine the witness until after the weekend break, and was expected to rebut the implications of the documents on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Watts was able to present a litany of company documents, including one that said, "There is an increase in concern about the overall safety of the product from all parties." Next to it, another executive had scribbled: "So?" and "Hyperbole - Why respond?"

Posner said he didn't know why those handwritten notes were scribbled next to the concerns about the drug, but he stressed that company officials always shared what reliable information they were permitted to share with patients and doctors.

Watts presented a host of company documents relaying concerns about the drug, then he concluded his evidence for the day with another document saying demand for Baycol had made it the fastest growing product in the company's history.

Watts said that after all the concerns about the drug were relayed, the company still was telling employees, "We have the chance to begin to turn Baycol into a billion-dollar drug."

After the courtroom cleared Friday, Bayer attorney Philip Beck said the company knew early the drug had interaction problems with gemfibrozil, a drug used to treat heart disease.

But the company went on the offensive to communicate these problems to the public. Most of the documents presented Friday related to whether the message was getting through to doctors and patients, he said.

"There was no documentation at all that said the company would sacrifice safety,'' Beck said.

He said Bayer voluntarily pulled the drug off the market in 2001 because the message about the drug's interaction wasn't getting through to doctors and patients.