Eli Lilly and Co. has settled out of court a Prozac suicide case brought by the parents of a 16-year-old boy who hung himself in 1999 after taking the anti-depression drug to treat the neurological condition Tourette’s syndrome. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
Lilly settled the case after the judge rejected a motion from its lawyers to block testimony by a plaintiff’s expert witness, British psychiatrist David Healy, said Andy Vickery, a Houston attorney for the plaintiffs.
Healy has testified in several Prozac cases that he believes the drug is able to trigger suicide or other violent impulses in some users.
Lilly “made a business decision to settle” the Lown case “for factors completely unrelated to the safety and efficacy of Prozac,” said Lilly spokesman Blair Austin. “The safety of Prozac . . . is thoroughly documented,” he said.
(via Indianapolis Star)
{ 11 comments }
My husband killed himself 5 years ago while on the drug prozac. A couple of months before he died I told the doctor he was getting worse and he increased the medication. Let me know if the drug is at fault for this.
my doctor put me on prozac after i was in a auto accident , he was more conserned about my state of mind then what i went to see him for ,,, after taking this drug it made me mean i would jump my wife for no reason at all ,,, this went on for 2 months i told the dr. what was happening and he incressed the med ,, it made me worse it got to the point where i was violant ,,, my wife finaly said if you dont stop taking that antidepressant that she was going to leave me ,,,, and i stopped taking it ,,, i havnt had a problem with this again ,,,
is there anyone else out there that has had the same problem ?
or know of any lawers taking this to court please let me know
thank you
Hi, My name is Terese. I am doing a project at school on antidepessants. I have been looking around at different side effects of prozac, zoloft, and other types of drugs. Most of the effects all seem to be the same. Most people who use these drugs to help their depression are becoming violent or even worse killing themselves or other around them. I would not recomend this drug to anyone if I were a doctor. If anyone else has any information on any of these drugs, then I would be more than greatful, I could use the help for my school project.
Thank-you!!!!
>>Most people who use these drugs to help their depression are becoming violent or even worse killing themselves or other around them.>>
Terese, you are an idiot. Just because a few people with preexisting mental conditions have killed themselves or turned while on prozac does not mean “most people on this drug become violent.” You really need to study statistics and understand that it takes much more than a few isolated cases to prove a coralation. Your comments are ignorant, uninformed and juvenile. Grow up and do some research before you try to talk about serious issues.
“Just because a few people with preexisting mental conditions have killed themselves or turned while on prozac does not mean “most people on this drug become violent.” ”
Oh dear, Liz. How then do you explain the process when a substantial number of healthy professional volunteers on SSRIs quickly become agitated and suicidal, alongside those given SSRIs for headaches, mild anxiety, hormonal difficulties, to lose weight, to help give up smoking… etc?
Terese sounds well informed and appears to have actually done some research and discovered at least some of the evidence that SSRI manufacturers were aware of harm caused by their drugs during clinical trials and covered it up. That harm was with regards to drug-induced homicidality and suicidality.
Extracts of correspondence from Professor David Healy to the UK drug regulatory body, the MHRA:
http://www.socialaudit.org.uk/58096-DH%20to%20WARK.htm
“…Reports on these trials list patients who have committed suicide, and list those patients as being of a certain age and as having committed suicide at a certain point during the trial, when the patient in question has a very different age and the event in question happened at a completely different point during the trial…”.
“…Miscoding of suicidal act as emotional lability…”
” …Lilly have resorted to treatment non-response and a range of other headings to code what happened…” [re coding/mislabelling suicidal acts happening on clinical trials]
“…records on Prozac, Seroxat/Paxil and Lustral/Zoloft, you will find cases of homicidality coded as nausea for instance…”
“…Discontinuation of patients from studies for primary adverse effects such as nausea when in fact there has been a suicidal act;…”
“…But it is also worth adding specifically that this has been a feature of all trials of Zoloft/Lustral, Seroxat/Paxil and Prozac throughout…”
And maybe Terese is also aware of the fact that the SSRI paxil manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, had to do what must have been an embarrassing U-Turn about their ’scientifically proven’ statement with regard to the link between serotonin and depression:
“…In May 2003, the maker of the SSRI Paxil, GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”), announced that it was withdrawing claims contained in its promotional material for Paxil (called Seroxat in Ireland and the UK) that the drug worked by normalizing levels of serotonin. GSK acknowledged that the link between depression and serotonin levels is unproven and that such claims “were not consistent with the scientific literature.”
Which can be found as a footnote at the bottom of page 8 of this pdf file:
http://www.baumhedlundlaw.com/media/ssri/Zoloft/CalifAttyGen/PFIZERCOMPLAINT.pdf
I think maybe Teresa has also researched and found these 3 further pdf files:
http://www.paxilsupport.homestead.com/files/homicidesSSRISandADHDmedications.pfd
http://www.paxilsupport.homestead.com/files/pfizerzoloftdefensemanual.pdf
http://www.ssri-uksupport.com/files/fdaadreact.pdf
Or has visited sites like these:
http://www.marketresearch.com/map/prod/855868.html
http://www.moshersoteria.com
http://www.healyprozac.com
http://www.adhdfraud.com
http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/akathisia-mania.htm
Good luck with your assignment Terese and don’t let people who clearly have NOT done the research put you down. There is a desperate need in the current pharmapolitical climate for people who research with an open and enquiring mind and who do not take pharma science/evidence as fact just because an industry intent on making blockbuster profits declare it so, as a lot of the ‘clinically proven evidence’ amounts to little more than pseudo-science concocted for the specific purpose of concealing serious negative effects of a drug.
And Liz, I believe you could learn a lot from Terese
Zyprexa appears to be having the same adverse effect. Attempted suicides and homicidal tendencies coupled with aggressive and violent outbursts of rage and the psychiatrists say its due to non-compliance. My son has been on it for several years and each time he tries to reduce it the psychaitrists increase the dose.
I’m not surprised about Zyprexa doing the same thing.
Firstly Eli Lilly made it and going on their cover up of suicidality and homicidality on Prozac, its unlikely they’ve were any more honest about their other blockbuster, Zyprexa/Olanzapine.
There’s a list of side effects here:
http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/olanzapine_ad.htm
Its amazing how serious some of those symptoms are and how FREQUENT some of them are too. Even more amazing that they became blockbusters given the risks. A restaurant would be closed down if the Chef’s food caused these kind of symptoms.
This section on the adverse effects under Nervous System – about 3/4’s of the way down the page for instance:
“Nervous System —
Frequent: abnormal dreams, amnesia, DELUSIONS, EMOTIONAL LABILITY (Eli Lilly coded suicide and homicide under the term ‘emotional lability’ amongst other things in Prozac trials, so presumably they did so on these trials too?), euphoria, MANIC REACTION, paresthesia, and SCHIZOPHRENIC REACTION;
Infrequent: akinesia, alcohol misuse, antisocial reaction, ataxia, CNS stimulation, cogwheel rigidity, delirium, dementia, depersonalization, dysarthria, facial paralysis, hypesthesia, hypokinesia, hypotonia, incoordination, libido decreased, libido increased, obsessive compulsive symptoms, phobias, somatization, stimulant misuse, stupor, stuttering, tardive dyskinesia, vertigo, and withdrawal syndrome;
Rare: circumoral paresthesia, coma, encephalopathy, neuralgia, neuropathy, nystagmus, PARALYSIS, SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE (which causes death in its own right), and tobacco misuse.”
My son was killed by Zyprexa and when I found out why I worked hard to get warnings on the labels. Some very prominent news articles shamed the FDA, even though they made all the atypicals have a warn though Clozaril and Zyprexa are the most dangerous. I rememberr back then that the tune the drug reps were singing was “safe, safe, safe”. In the recent settlement involving 8000 people, Lilly pulled its usual trick and got the plaintiffs’ attorneys not to tell what they had found out. I wonder whether their executives ever have trouble sleeping at night. My life is ruined.
I was perscribed prozac years ago. It was the most horrible experience of my life. I still have the medication bottle, and have been told by attorneys the statute of limitations have long past. I had a horrible reaction after just a short time being put on Prozac. I remember staying up for days it seemed, and my mind going into hyperdrive. I started halucinating and I was so scared trying to stay in control. I can still remember things all these years later. I finally remember thinking I needed to die because I caused harm which I had not at all it was the drug just keeping me up night after night. I asked my husband to take the kids to their grandparents said I needed to take a nap, and took a whole handful of pills and layed down. Never ever in my life have I ever thought of such things or harm to myself. Something told me to get up call my sister I told her what I did she took me to the emergency room. They gave me a charcoal like substance to drink and then I was placed on the mental floor of the hosptial. Alot more to this, but I could testify and I do know first hand what this feels like.
my son hung himself 4 weeks ago aged 23. he had been taking Lustral for a few years and had recently had his dose increased. I can’t beleive how many other people know of someone that has done the same thing. Surely all these people have been depressed and I have been wondering if they have also been taking Lustral???
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