Come one Come All - Welcome to the Paxil Protest

Come one Come All - Welcome to the Paxil Protest

This action — aimed at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline — represents one of the few times in history where a group of concerned citizens will come together in a high profile manner to warn the public about a dangerous and defective drug, and to protest the egregious conduct of its manufacturer and distributors.

It will take place on September 26th through the 28th at the company's home base of 200 North 16th Street in Philadelphia PA.

Specifically, this demonstration will shine an unblinking spotlight on Glaxo's unconscionable marketing and distribution of "Paxil" in the United States, and "Seroxat" in the United Kingdom. GSK further markets the drug under many other trade names throughout the world.

While Glaxo provides an abundance of information to the public and medical community about the alleged positive aspects of Paxil — through ads on television and in newspapers and magazines, promotional material provided to doctors, sponsorship of studies, medical meetings and seminars, substantial donations to mental health groups and organizations, government lobbying efforts, etc. — this independent site provides a nexus of information and resource links not readily available to the general public.

Why isn’t the information presented on this website more well known, if known at all? The answer is simple. It's because: Glaxo wants it that way.

If asked, GSK might tell you that — were the public told the truth about Paxil’s potential to cause oftentimes severe adverse reactions — patients who might have "benefited" from the drug would be scared away from taking it, "to their own detriment."

But most important, to GSK's detriment as well, since the company rakes in several billion dollars a year in Paxil profits. Paxil isn't just a "cash cow" for the company, it's a whole herd in and of itself.

However, it is up to the potential Paxil user — not Glaxo — to decide whether to use the drug, but only after full disclosure of Paxil's potential side effects have been made.

The warnings must be communicated in a clear and unambiguous manner. This means — insofar as Paxil is concerned — adding "a couple of extra teeth" to the "learned intermediary doctrine."

Specifically, the FDA should implement a "risk management program" to ensure patients and physicians are fully informed of risks and possible benefits of Paxil. Of course, this asssumes that Paxil will not be voluntarily pulled from the marketplace by Glaxo, or banned entirely by the FDA, once the truth is known.

The Paxil Protest will further expose the history of Paxil's development — a history in which Glaxo knew even before the drug was approved that its drug could induce suicidality, dependency and withdrawal.

Furthermore, that Glaxo (formerly SKB) conspired to hide these effects from the FDA in order to win approval for the drug. Why? So the company could seize upon and then dramatically expand into a burgeoning multi-billion dollar "SSRI" anti-depressant market.

The Paxil Protest will also focus the public's attention on additional hidden dangers of Paxil impacting women as a class, as well as the sub-population of women who are pregnant or who have just given birth.

As a result of Glaxo's hiding the truth from the public, approximately 5,000 US citizens have filed suit against GSK for the oftentimes excruciatingly painful, prolonged, sometimes life-threatening withdrawal symptoms experienced when stopping the drug.

Thousands more have sued Glaxo in the UK on the same basis.

Some of these lawsuits are filed on behalf of individuals who started Paxil — only discover they could not stop taking the drug, even with extraordinary medical intervention. As a consequence these persons have effectively been transformed into lifetime Paxil addicts.

Additionally, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against Glaxo by families asserting Paxil was the proximate cause of death of their loved one via drug-induced suicide, including many children, and are currently pending, or have been "resolved" by Glaxo.

Of these, the Donald Shell suicide/triple homicide is a standout. In this case, Glaxo, in a classic example of corporate hubris, risked it all by squaring off with the families of the deceased in a backwoods Wyoming courtroom. Glaxo lost the suit, and in spectacular fashion.

This long overdue protest follows in the grand tradition of American democracy. Society has a right, and a duty, to protect itself from companies that make a mockery of the public trust, and which operate in a manner antithetical to the public's health and well-being.

Announcement released for publication by:

Evelyn Pringle epringle05@yahoo.com

(Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Independent Media TV and an investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government)

ENDS

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