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Suicidal Psychiatric Drugs
Added: (Wed Sep 07 2005)
On September 26, consumer activists and survivors of the drug company's popular antidepressant Paxil will converge on GSK's Philadelphia headquarters to demand the company come clean about the drug's dangerous side effects. Proven to induce drug dependency and suicidal behavior, these groups will insist the drug be taken off the market.
"Paxil is a dangerous and defective drug. That is absolutely the case," said Rob Robinson, organizer of what is being called the "Paxil Protest," in a press release. "The swath of devastation, misery and sometimes death which Paxil has unleashed the world over is simply staggering. Yet GlaxoSmithKline has done everything in its power to keep the sinister truth about Paxil from going public. What's at stake for the company is a multi-billion dollar revenue stream that the sales of Paxil have generated for almost 10 years."
One of the "sinister truth(s)" Robinson and his collaborators in the Paxil Protest hope to expose is drug dependency. Paxil, sold as Seroxat in the United Kingdom, has been known to cause severe withdrawal symptoms in patients. Paxil can also cross the placental barrier in pregnant users, say some critics, causing Neonatal Withdrawal Syndrome. These infants may then show signs of irritability, hyperactivity, abnormal sleep patterns, vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss and failure to gain weight.
Paxil is also accompanied by short- and long-term side effects. Studies show that the drug causes suicidal, homicidal or otherwise violent behaviors in some users. One Wyoming patient suffering from these violent side effects killed his wife, daughter and granddaughter before taking his own life. Ruling on this case, the jury found Paxil, not the patient, guilty for these tragic deaths. GSK paid $8 million in damages.
Since the FDA approved Paxil in 1992, approximately 5,000 U.S. citizens – and thousands more worldwide – have sued GSK. Most of these people feel they were not sufficiently warned in advance of the drug's side effects and addictive properties. However, GSK certainly must have known of the drug's potential dangers since, in clinical trials, up to 50 percent of patients taking Paxil experienced such withdrawals. And withdrawal is not the only problem.
According to the Paxil Protest website, http://www.paxilprotest.com, hundreds more lawsuits have been filed against GSK by families who claim Paxil drove a loved one to suicide. One account on the site highlights the death of a child who left the following note written in crayon before hanging herself from a doorknob: "Mom, by the time you find me, I'll be dead. I love you with all my heart. Don't worry, Jesus is with me."
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News Real