Lawsuit filed over anti-depressant for children

Reprinted with Permission of Minnesota Lawyer

GlaxoSmithKline committed fraud and misrepresented data on the effectiveness of prescribing its anti-depressant Paxil to children, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.

The lawsuit, filed last week, alleges the London-based company suppressed clinical studies that indicated Paxil was ineffective for children, said Paul Dahlberg, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

"They created this false impression that it was effective," Dahlberg said last week. "We're not alleging that Paxil harmed these children. We're alleging that they (GlaxoSmithKline) sold them something that wasn't what they said it was."

The suit was filed on behalf of Nancy Gerdts, of Hopkins, and her son, who is a minor, as well as other plaintiffs in Minnesota and Iowa, said Dahlberg. The attorneys are seeking class action status, hoping to get reimbursements for anyone who purchased Paxil for children from November 1998, when the clinical results were first made available to the company, to the present, Dahlberg said. Damages are unspecified.