WYETH SUED BY TEN FAMILIES FOR EFFEXOR INDUCED SUICIDES/VIOLENCE

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WYETH SUED BY TEN FAMILIES FOR EFFEXOR INDUCED SUICIDES/VIOLENCE

For Immediate Release

October 25, 2005

Ten families from across the United States have joined forces to bring

wrongful death and personal injury suits against the drug giant Wyeth

alleging that their respective family members committed impulsive acts

of violence - mostly suicides-or attempted them-shortly after taking

Wyeth's best-selling drug, Effexor.

The suit was filed in Federal Court in Philadelphia, near Wyeth's

corporate headquarters in Collegeville, Pa. The suit alleges that

Wyeth's drug Effexor-an antidepressant-was responsible for the deaths

of eight people and for injuries to three other teenagers. The average

length of time that the patients took the drug before their deaths was

ten days.

Citing Wyeth's own clinical trial data, the lawsuit also alleges that

Wyeth knew for years that hostility and self-harm were side effects of

Effexor but made a conscious decision not to warn prescribing

physicians or consumers, fearing a loss of market share in the

multi-billion dollar anti-depressant industry.

For over a decade, information has emerged linking antidepressant drugs

like Effexor to homicide and suicide, but Wyeth and other drug

companies shrugged it off, arguing that the suicides were caused by the

depression, not their drug. The scientific and medical data of the

connection between the SSRI's and suicide became so convincing,

however, that the Food and Drug Administration in September of 2004

ordered BLACK BOX WARNINGS regarding the causal relationship between

the drugs and adolescent and child suicides. In July of this year, the

FDA expanded the warning to encompass the increased risk that

anti-depressants pose to adults. Canada's drug regulatory agency-Health

Canada-has also required warnings regarding the suicide risks of these

drugs for all patients. Similar warnings have been required by European

agencies.

The families are co-represented by the Philadelphia firm of FELDMAN &

PINTO and the Houston, Texas firm of VICKERY & WALDNER. Further

information, and a copy of the lawsuit itself, can be obtained from

www.JusticeSeekers.com. The lawsuit does not seek any specific amount

in damages, but seeks a determination that Effexor causes suicide in

some patients who have never been known to be suicidal before they took

the drug and a finding regarding Wyeth's " fault " for failing to warn

about that risk. " After a Philadelphia jury determines what the FDA has

already found to exist, " said Andy Vickery of the Houston firm, " the

Court can then consider whether to remand each family to their home

federal district for individual trials on specific causation and

damages. " The Plaintiff families live in Florida, Georgia, Colorado,

North Carolina, Texas, Washington, California, Wisconsin and Alaska.

" Filing the initial suit in Wyeth's home town, " said Vickery, " avoids

contradictory findings and is certainly the fairest and most economical

way to proceed with these claims. "

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