UPJOHN WINS UK HALCION LIBEL CASE

US drugmaker Upjohn is the victor in a libel trial involving the controversial anxiolytic Halcion (triazolam - sales of which have drifted down from the $237 million high of 1991), which ended last week after four months of hearings in the UK High Court . The decision of the court rejected charges of dishonesty levelled by the BBC and by Ian Oswald, a vocal, long-time critic of the US company.

Upjohn brought the suits against the BBC and Prof Oswald in January 1992 as a result of allegations made on a BBC television program entitled The Halcion Nightmare, broadcast October 14, 1991, and against Prof Oswald for comments he made in a January 20, 1992, interview with the New York Times. A similar action against the Sunday Express was settled in October 1992, when the newspaper apologized to Upjohn.

In rejecting allegations made by the BBC and Prof Oswald, Justice Sir Anthony May said that "when Halcion is in issue, Prof Oswald's judgement of people and their intentions and motives is, in my view, seriously astray." However, all parties were criticized by Sir Anthony regarding various aspects of the allegations.