It Pays To Be A Taditionalist: Seroxat

In an earlier blog---Seroxat and Ribena

……“The Cockroach Catcher, Dr Am Ang Zhang had an interesting discussion with his Junior who had just transferred from one of the top London teaching hospitals:

“Do you agree that Leroy has Social Phobia ? Everything fitted in with the criteria in DSM IV.” My junior plucked up courage to ask me during supervision. It was good to keep oneself on one’s toes with juniors who had just arrived from London and who read up on everything.
“What’s wrong with shyness?” I joked, “Do you want me to put him on SSRI (Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)?”
“It is supposed to work.”
“If he starts taking SSRI at thirteen, what is he going to do for the rest of his life?!”
“The newer short acting ones are supposed to be better.”
“Take one advice from me; think the opposite, the opposite to what the big Pharmas tell you. In pharmacology, shorter acting drugs are more addictive. That was what I learned in Medical School and is still true if you think carefully about it.”……

Reuters on the 2nd of October reported:
Glaxo settles U.S. Paxil lawsuit for $40 million.
LONDON, Oct 2 (Reuters) -
"GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to settle a long-standing U.S. case over its antidepressant Paxil by paying insurers $40 million to reimburse health plans that paid for children and adolescents to receive the drug.

The agreement ends class-action litigation against Glaxo over the issue, after the British-based drugmaker was sued for allegedly suppressing studies showing the drug was not suitable for children.

Last year, Glaxo agreed to pay $64 million to consumers in another class-action settlement. In both cases Glaxo did not admit liability. Although Paxil was never approved for use by children, doctors could prescribe it on an 'off label' basis, although Glaxo was not allowed to promote it for this purpose.

Stricter warnings were issued for the drug, however, after clinical trial data raised doubts about the safety of antidepressants for those under age 18 and the risk that the medicine -- and others of a similar type -- might increase suicidal behaviour.

Under the latest settlement, Glaxo will reimburse insurers who paid for a Paxil prescription for use by a minor between 1998 and 2004. Insurers may claim a refund of 40 percent of their actual costs of the drugs prescribed to children and adolescents diagnosed with a major depression, or 15 percent of the cost if the diagnosis was unknown."

Paxil(US) and Seroxat(UK) are the tradenames of paroxetine manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and belongs to the group of shorter acting SSRIs-(selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) that The Cockroach Catcher’s junior referred to.

Perhaps it pays to be a traditionalist.

GSK is also involved in a fresh new case of a prominent psychiatrist claiming he received $34,998 when it was in fact $960,488; the New York Times reported on the 4th of October.


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