Incidences like this are why I view the claims for most new drugs in the 'huge lucrative potential' category with a rather jaundiced eye:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/2004-06-02-spitzer_x.htm "...The lawsuit, filed in the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, charged London-based Glaxo-SmithKline (GSK) with fraud for its failure to disclose crucial findings that suggested Paxil didn't work well on kids and could potentially trigger suicidal thoughts... "...Prozac is the only SSRI with FDA approval for the treatment of depression in kids. A study presented Tuesday at a scientific meeting showed that Prozac can safely combat depression in teenagers. But doctors also widely prescribe Paxil and other antidepressants for children. "The lawsuit alleges that starting in 1998 GlaxoSmithKline suppressed negative information from scientific studies. The company did at least five Paxil studies but publicized just one, the only one that held out hope that the drug might combat depression in children, says Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The others showed the drug offered no benefit and in some cases might have increased the risk of suicide in teens. But the company continued to market it aggressively to doctors and claimed the drug had a "remarkable efficacy and safety in the treatment of adolescent depression," the lawsuit alleges. "Doctors prescribed Paxil based on information that was false," Spitzer says. Physicians wrote more than 2 million prescriptions for Paxil to treat children and adolescents in 2002. U.S. sales for that market brought the company $55 million in 2002, the lawsuit says..." Debbi Snake Oil Cures Maru >:/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/
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