To the Editor. —
The suit filed by Warner - Lambert Company, Morris Plains, NJ, on March 21, 1989, against chemical company Rohm & Haas, Philadelphia, Pa, has profound and far-reaching implications. It accuses Rohm & Haas of negligence, breach of contract, and wanton and reckless conduct (The Philadelphia Inquirer. March 23, 1989: 1-C, 13-C) regarding the sale of pesticide-contaminated cholestyramine resin. Two pharmaceutical companies in this country have used cholestyramine resin manufactured by Rohm & Haas for the manufacture of cholesterol-lowering drugs. Bristol-Myers US Pharmaceutical Group, Evansville, Ind, supplies cholestyramine resin in the form of a powder, Questran, and Warner-Lambert supplies cholestyramine resin in the form of a chewable bar, Cholybar. Questran has been available for approximately 20 years and Cholybar was released recently, in November 1988.In May 1988, Bristol-Myers, under an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration, recalled 200 million doses of Questran contaminated with pesticides (The Philadelphia