Eli Lilly busted - more data on the early Prozac trials

December 31, 2004

Suicide attempts and violence outrages linked with Prozac

Posted on : 2004-12-31| Author : Drake. H

Missing documents that reveal the risks associated with antidepressant

drug Prozac were sent to the FDA by The British Medical Journal this Friday.

The journal says that it had received these very important documents from an

anonymous source. Documents reveal that Prozac, whose generic name is

fluoxetine, can have serious side effects such as tendency to commit suicide

or to behave in a violent manner. The drug is made by Eli Lilly & Company.

The company had reported these documents being lost during a product

liability suit filed in 1994. The case was field on behalf of victims of a

work-place shooting by ph Wesbecker in 1989. Wesbecker had shot eight

people dead and wounded another 12 with his AK-47. He then shot and killed

himself. Wesbecker had a long history of depression and was on fluoxetine

one month before the shootings.

Lilly had however won a 9 to 3 jury verdict in that case and

subsequently claimed that it was " proven in a court of law that Prozac is

safe and effective. "

However, Justice Potter who was a trial judge suspected that a

secret deal had been struck. He followed both Lilly and the plaintiffs and

eventually exposed Lilly in 1997 by making them admit that they had indeed

made a secret settlement with the plaintiffs during the trial.

Enraged by Lilly's actions, Judge Potter ordered the finding changed

from a verdict in Lilly's favor to one of " dismissed as settled with

prejudice, " saying, " Lilly sought to buy not just the verdict but the

court's judgment as well. "

The documents now submitted to FDA have internal reviews and memos

written during a clinical study on the effects of the drug. They show Eli

Lilly officials were aware in the 1980's that the drug had troubling side

effects.

Mr. Hinchey (Democrat, New York) said that " This case demonstrates the

need for Congress to mandate the complete disclosure of all clinical studies

for FDA-approved drugs so that patients and their doctors, not the drug

companies, decide whether the benefits of taking a certain medicine outweigh

the risks. "

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