British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline will pay $750 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil charges that it knowingly sold tainted 20 or ineffective drugs, including the antidepressant Paxil, the diabetes treatment Avandia stomach medicine Tagamet and the antibacterial ointment Bactroban.

All were made between 2001 and 2005 at a Puerto Rico plant with a history of health and safety violations that finally closed last year.

Glaxo will pay $150 million in criminal fines and $600 million in civil penalties. Federal prosecutors said today in Boston that no patients are known to have become ill as a result of the faulty manufacturing, though tracing such cases would be difficult. Other affected drugs include the anti-nausea chemo medicine Kytril and the heart drug Coreg.

Read full details of the settlement and the charges.

A Glaxo quality-control manager alerted the Justice Department to the problem after company ignored her findings and fired her.

In a statement, Glaxo said, in part, "We regret that we operated the Cidra facility in a manner that was inconsistent with current Good Manufacturing Practice requirements and with GSK's commitment to manufacturing quality."

(Posted by Michael Winter)