Investigation of Glaxo's Paxil widens

[flashl]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. Department of Justice investigation into whether GlaxoSmithKline PLC withheld data about the suicide risks of the antidepressant drug Paxil is widening, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

In its online editions, the newspaper said Glaxo confirmed that a previously disclosed Colorado-based investigation of its marketing practices also includes the U.S. attorney's office in Boston and is being coordinated by the agency in Washington.

Federal investigators in Boston last year asked lawyers for families that are suing Glaxo for information, documents and depositions concerning Paxil's potential link to suicidal behavior, and how the company portrayed that risk to doctors and the Food and Drug Administration.

...

Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley asked regulators to investigate whether Glaxo withheld data about the risk of suicide when it applied for U.S. approval to market the drug.

Reuters

[Celebration]

1. ever known anyone trying to get off this stuff?

I read that it is very difficult. That in and of itself is a pretty good marketing program. Get people to "try" the drug for a sufficiently long time that it becomes near impossible to stop taking it.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. Took it for four years. Reduced dosage for one week and stopped.

I wish quitting smoking had been as easy as stopping Paxil.

[Celebration]

3. you are lucky

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/MentalHealth/messages/32517.html

Maybe the Paxil didn't have have much of an effect on you in the first place.

Anyhow, I know quitting smoking is extremely difficult for many people.

[Liberal Veteran]

4. You do realize that people rarely go on those sites to report their positive experiences.

It gives a skewed view of the risks of a drug going by anecdotal evidence.

[lizerdbits]

5. I was on it for about a month

I reduced it for a couple days then stopped. I had some whirring sounds in my head for 3-4 days and that was it. People refer to those as 'brain zaps.' I became really anxious while on it, but everyone's reaction is different and it obviously has helped some people.

[Horse with no Name]

6. When I was first diagnosed with my disease process

my Doc felt that I should be depressed and prescribed Paxil.
I told him I wasn't depressed, he asked me to try it for a month and I did.
I quit taking it because since I wasn't really depressed, there wasn't any benefit to me.
I had no side effects.
That being said...any type of antidepressant carries the risk of suicide as soon as it becomes therapeutic.
Truly down-in-the-dumps depressed folks don't attempt or commit suicide until they start feeling better.