William Blair QC

Mr Justice William Blair was sworn in on wednesday as a Justice of the High Court.

As the name suggests, he is Tony Blair's older brother, however he is more appropriately renowned as oneh of the UK and indeed the World's foremost authorities on Domestic and International Banking and Finance Law and was until his appointment, a Banking and Finance Silk practising from out of 3 Verulam Buildings.

He was also a Visiting Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and was called to the Bar in 1972 and was appointed QC in 1994.

I could possibly go on about his substantial CV but shall not, the focus of this post being in the most simple sense to genuinely salute a true gentleman of the Bar and a true symbol of what the Legal profession ought to represent.

I first met Bill Blair- as he introduced himself to me- in 2005 in the course of a Commercial Litigation matter in which I represented a set of defendants and which he appeared on behalf of the Plaintiff. His demeanour throughout the case was extremely humble, highly knowledgable as you would indeed expect, fair and totally professional. Whilst we were on opposite sides of an extremely bitter and contentious matter, one could not but be impressed by his professionalism, integrity and sense of propriety.

There are very few men deserving of elevation to the Higher Bench and Bill Blair is or at least should be a shining example to the Legal profession in the widest global context. I extend my sincere and genuine congratulations to a man whom I truly respect and admire.

Being a Lawyer is just a job not a mark of status- Mr Justice Blair plainly epitomises this ethos

Depressing News Pt 2

I just received this email 2 minutes ago from GSK Corporate Communications, an addendum to today's press release- well what can I say it gets more interesting...

"GSK rejects any suggestion that we deliberately withheld data on paroxetine from NICE. GSK provided both published and unpublished data as part of the development of the NICE guidelines regarding the licensed use of paroxetine in adults with depression, anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. In addition GSK responded to a request for data on the use of paroxetine in children. The company provided a list of the studies that had either been completed or were underway however this was an unlicensed indication (that is to say the product was not approved for use in this patient population) and was subject to an ongoing regulatory review by the MHRA. It was therefore not appropriate to provide these data to NICE ahead of the MHRA's conclusions."

Depressing News?

I just received a Press release from the good folks at Glaxo Smith Kline basically countering the recent Public Library of Science article which in simple terms cast grave doubts on the efficacy of Anti-Depressant Therapies except in the most severe cases. Please find link below:

http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045

The article specifically states that for majority of cases the efficacy of the therapies is nil and that if at all the therapies are not more effective than placebos. Petty strong stuff, based on the seeming emphasis by GP's and Psychiatrists on Anti-Depressive therapies, sometimes to the detriment of alternative therapies.

The GSK response being absolutely objective was quite strong, fair and in my view ought to be read on a credible counter-balance. The key points in the GSK press release are as follows:

a. The study was based on only a very small fraction of the Data available for anti-depressants i.e In the case of Paroxetine- 16 Clinical trials out of a total 170 involving 14000 patients;

b. 10 out of 16 of the Clinical trials referred to reached a score of 3.0 on the NICE clinical threshold;

c. Patients should not abandon their medication in panic without advice from Physicians, as clearly the study is likely to cause panic in the minds of the patients who would be justifiably concerned by the outcome of the study. A copy of the press release is available via this link http://www.gsk.com/media/pressreleases/2008/2008_pressrelease_0011.htm

Now then, my view is that whilst I believe there is some measure of merit to the report I am loathe to accept the air of finality it posits and I would certainly have advocated some measure of caution or indeed a caveat on the findings posited.

Not for one second do I think this story is over, clearly the manufacturers are going to react and rightly so. The effect of this study is too important not to have a considered and comprehensive consideration and we await the same with interest.