SSRIs (Antidepressants) and Birth Defects: How Concerned Should Woman Be? What are the risks associated with Paxil?
July 9, 2007 15:04

New research reveals that SSRIs are not major causes for the malformation of a developing fetus. SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are often prescribed for depression, a relatively common condition among women. Previous reports had suggested that... (Read Article)

FDA Announces Misleading Warnings about Paxil
June 14, 2007 12:09

On May 2, 2007, the FDA announced its most misleading warnings to date about selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants like Paxil when it said the drug makers would revise the current black box warning of increased risk of suicides in children... (Read Article)

Paxil Caused Teen's Suicide
June 12, 2007 12:11

Source: http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2007/06/13/news/top_news/doc033e30e9c6967a82862572f80081b832.txt

Scott Randall Cunningham was a typical eighth-grader with all the concerns that physicians and parents might expect to see in a 14-year-old. He talked to his mom about girls, got caught smoking, had an active social life and yearned to work at Taco Bell, where his favorite food was served.

Yet when he told his counselor that the stresses of life were getting to him, he received a prescription for the antidepressant Paxil. Six weeks later, he died as a result of trying to commit suicide.

Four years after the death, GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of Paxil, began printing a disclaimer with Paxil warning that the drug increased the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in some adolescent users of the drug.

The family has joined dozens of other families across the nation suing GlaxoSmithKline. They contend the drug industry hid the dangers that antidepressants pose a problem for the adolescents who take them.

Filed last year in Pennsylvania, the Cunningham's case was transferred to U.S. District Court in Hammond earlier this month. The lawsuit alleges fraud and negligence and seeks undisclosed monetary damages for the family.

Expanding the Black Box - Depression, Antidepressants, and the Risk of Suicide by Richard A. Friedman, M.D., and Andrew C. Leon, Ph.D.
June 7, 2007 08:00

"On May 2, 2007, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered that all antidepressant medications carry an expanded black-box warning incorporating information about an increased risk of suicidal symptoms in young adults 18 to 24 years of age. Since October 2004, antidepressants have been required to have a black-box warning indicating that they are associated with an increased risk of suicidal thinking, feeling, and behavior in children and adolescents." (NEJM Volume 356:2343-2346 June 7, 2007 Number 23)

$64M Deal Approved in Paxil Settlement
June 1, 2007 06:38

"Parents who bought the antidepressant Paxil for their children can begin seeking reimbursements under a $64 million class-action deal settling claims that the drug's maker misled consumers about the medication's safety. Under the deal, announced in April and granted final approval last week by a judge in Madison County, Ill., parents with proof that they bought GlaxoSmithKline PLC's Paxil and Paxil CR, a controlled-release version of the drug, can recoup out-of-pocket expenses. Parents who no longer have pharmacy records or receipts can get up to $100 refunded by signing a claim form that carries penalties for lying. In settling the 2004 lawsuit, Britain-based GlaxoSmithKline denies claims it promoted the drug to children while withholding information about negative side effects, including increased suicidal behavior."

Jim Shur, Associated Press, Forbes 5/24/07
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/24/ap3755611.html

Paxil and Zoloft, with half-lives of one day, proved more difficult to get off than Prozac
May 8, 2007 08:36

This article is mostly about this writer’s attempt to get off of Effexor but does mention Paxil fleetingly once or twice.

In their studies, Rosenbaum and Fava found that Paxil and Zoloft, with half-lives of one day, proved more difficult to get off than Prozac, with a half-life of four to six days. Effexor, the drug I was on, has the shortest half-life of all: five or six hours.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/magazine/06antidepressant-t.html?ref=magazine