Jury selection begins in suit of pharmacist, drug makers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Cancer patients -- some of them potentially giving videotaped testimony from their death bed -- can testify in the lawsuit against pharmacist Robert Courtney and two drug companies, a Jackson County judge ruled Thursday.

Ovarian cancer patient Georgia Hayes is suing Courtney and drug makers Eli Lilly & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb. Courtney has admitted watering down cancer drugs for profit; Hayes claims the drug companies should have done more to stop him.

Attorneys for Hayes said they want the other patients to testify to corroborate Hayes' claim that she felt fewer side effects when she took Courtney's medication.

The cancer patient testimony was vigorously opposed by attorneys for the drug companies. They argued that the other cancer patients, who also are suing Courtney and the drug companies, have no bearing on Hayes' case. They also said the testimony would inflame the jury.

Judge Lee E. Wells said the plaintiffs have a right to bring the testimony. "It's up to the jury to make a decision as to how they feel about it," Wells said.

However, Wells stressed that the other cancer patients could only testify about their own personal experience with cancer medications, and said they would not be able to testify without proof that they got watered-down drugs.

Also Thursday, 84 potential jurors were told to return today for a second round of questioning. They were winnowed from a pool of 180 prospective jurors who showed up Thursday -- out of 600 who were summoned, court spokeswoman Ellen Crawford said. Attorneys are looking for a jury of 12, plus a handful of alternates.

Opening statements are scheduled for Monday.

The potential jurors hunched over clipboards as they filled out a 10-page questionnaire. Questions included whether they have ever had cancer or received chemotherapy, and whether they believe drug manufacturers do an adequate job of monitoring the safety of their medicine after they are sold.

A Missouri Supreme Court rule closes jury selection to the public, though judge Wells released a blank copy of the questionnaire.

Jurors will be asked to decide whether the drug companies should bear any responsibility for Courtney's scheme to dilute drugs he sold to doctors. Hayes claims the drug companies should have known in 1998 that something was wrong.

Eli Lilly, based in Indiana, and New Jersey-based Bristol-Myers Squibb have denied any wrongdoing, saying they took all the security steps required by law.

The trial is expected to last four to five weeks. It is the first of hundreds of suits against the drug makers and is considered a barometer of the likely outcome of the other cases.

Courtney pleaded guilty in February to federal charges of adulterating, misbranding and tampering with chemotherapy medications.

He is scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces up to 30 years in prison.