Pharma Giant Funded their Own Study Claiming Drug Was Safe for Kids — It was Actually Deadly
Jay Syrmopoulos
The Free Thought Project
Under current U.S. law, pharmaceutical companies are required to only market and advertise their drugs for FDA approved conditions.
Big pharma heavy-hitter GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) illegally influenced doctors to prescribe the antidepressant drug paroxetine (sold under the brand name Paxil) to teenagers and kids for years even though it was not FDA approved for use in adolescents.
Not to be discouraged by pesky laws, GSK began a focused marketing blitz aimed at doctors, which was a huge success with over 2 million Paxil prescriptions being written for kids in 2002 alone.
So why did doctors write over 2 million Paxil prescriptions for children when the drug was not even approved by the FDA for use in kids?
GlaxoSmithKine actually funded a research study that was published in 2001, known as Study 329, which claimed to show that the drug was “well tolerated and effective” in children.
A subsequent study, not funded by the pharmaceutical company, had drastically different conclusions as to the effectiveness and safety of Paxil in adolescents.
According to a report by Vox:
A major new analysis of the raw data behind Study 329, published in BMJ, suggests that the original conclusions were wildly wrong. Not only is Paxil ineffective, working no better than placebo, but it can actually cause serious side effects, including self-injury and suicide.
The New York State Attorney General’s office eventually found out what was going on with Paxil (and fraudulent activities related to other GSK drugs), sued GSK, and the company pleaded guilty to the wrongdoing, paying out $3 billion in fines. Through legal discovery, it became clear that the company knew their data on Paxil for teens was problematic, even hiring a PR firm to ghostwrite Study 329. In 2004, the FDA added an explicit “black box warning,” recommending against Paxil’s use in adolescents.
Read more: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/pharm...-deadly_102015
Site Information
About Us
- RonPaulForums.com is an independent grassroots outfit not officially connected to Ron Paul but dedicated to his mission. For more information see our Mission Statement.
Connect With Us