GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is currently engaged in a fierce legal battle over its antidepressant pill, Paxil (Seroxat in the U.K.).<\/p>\n
Marketed as an antidepressant, Paxil is supposed to reduce the risk of suicide in users.<\/p>\n
When it was first made for production, GSK conducted clinical trials to test how effective the drug was. In 1989, it presented the drug to regulators along with the results that indicated Paxil was much safer than taking a placebo.
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\nIn the report, GSK said that, of the 3,000 people who took Paxil, five people had tragically committed suicide. 554 patients were randomly selected and provided a placebo pill. From this much smaller group of people, two committed suicide. This meant that one in 600 (0.16%) people on Paxil committed suicide, whereas one in 275 (0.36%) committed suicide while taking the placebo.<\/p>\n
Using this result, GSK said that Paxil was twice as effective in preventing suicides<\/strong> than using a placebo.<\/p>\n Widow Wendy Dolin disagrees with these findings. Her late husband, Stewart Dolin, took a generic form of Paxil called paroxetine. She believes the drug contributed to his suicide, rather than preventing it.<\/p>\n Dolin’s lawyers are disputing the findings of the report’s suicide statistics for allegedly neglecting one key point in the study. The lawsuit brought by Dolin alleges that the two suicides that occurred in the placebo group should not have been taken into account as they happened during the “run-in” period. This is a stage where patients about to take part in a new clinical trial are slowly weaned off of any previous medication they may have been taking. This is before the trial officially starts, and random assignments for placebo replacements are made.\u00a0 During this period, it’s widely known that patients are statistically at a heightened risk of suicide.<\/p>\n