A judge has mandated Glaxo provide emails between it and researchers who were looking into the Paxil-birth defect connection. U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner in Boston ruled “the plaintiffs are entitled to correspondence and documents between anyone at Slone and GSK about the study, its scope” and methodology.
The family of Lyam Kilker claims Glaxo withheld information from consumers and regulators about the risk of birth defects and failed to properly test Paxil. Kilker’s mother, Michelle David, blames Paxil for causing life-threatening heart defects in her 3-year-old son. Glaxo officials urged scientists to withhold information about Paxil’s risks from a paper laying out the company’s “core safety philosophy” for the drug, said Sean Tracey, a lawyer for Kilker and David, in his opening statement in the trial.
It is impossible to unpack all of the reasons for these prescriptions, but some industry critics say one reason could be the money doctors make from Forest. Psychiatrists make more money from drug makers than any other medical specialty, according to analyses of payment data. And Forest gives more money and food to doctors than many of its far larger rivals.
Kaden has undergone open heart surgery three times, the first when he was nine weeks old. “We didn’t find out about Kaden’s heart condition straight away and we almost lost him,” says his mother.
The fourth chamber of his heart was not visible on the ultrasound scan she had when she was pregnant. They didn’t know it was because it was not fully developed. He was two months old when she took the baby to the doctor because he was not breastfeeding. “His lungs were full of blood,” she said.
Thousands of women in the UK may be taking antidepressants prescribed by their GPs without knowing that the pills, which are hard to stop taking, could cause birth defects in unborn children. The problems relate to a class of drug known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), which includes Prozac and, in particular, the British-made Seroxat.