Protest at Glaxo criticizes drug
Demonstrators, who planned a 3-day vigil, were demanding recall of
antidepressant Paxil.
By Thomas Ginsberg
Inquirer Staff Writer
A handful of protesters began a three-day vigil yesterday outside the Center
City offices of GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C., calling on the global drugmaker to
recall its controversial antidepressant, Paxil.
"I felt like I was used by GlaxoSmithKline as a disposable lab rat to feed
their multibillion-dollar revenue stream," said Rob Robinson, the
Tennessee-based protest organizer, who contends that Paxil is addictive and
gave him anxiety attacks and violent thoughts.
GlaxoSmithKline spokeswoman Mary Anne Rhyne said the company had no plans to
recall the drug, as the protesters demanded.
"While we sympathize with anyone facing health challenges, we do not believe
science supports the claims voiced by the individuals involved in this
event," a company statement said.
Last October, the Food and Drug Administration ordered makers of all
antidepressants to label them with bold-faced warnings about the risk of
suicide and depression for children. Last year, GlaxoSmithKline said it paid
$2.5 million to settle a New York state lawsuit alleging the company hid
studies showing negative effects of Paxil. It also agreed to post on the
Internet all studies about Paxil, which was approved by the FDA in 1992.
The fine equaled about one day's worth of Paxil's annual sales revenue,
which was $950 million worldwide last year. Sales of most antidepressants
known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs, have slumped
from fear of suicide and addictiveness.
Similar drugs include Prozac, made by Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co.;
Zoloft, made by New York-based Pfizer Inc.; Forest Laboratories Inc.'s
Celexa and Lexapro; and Effexor, made by Wyeth, with pharmaceutical
headquarters in Collegeville.
Robinson, who is a member of a federal class-action lawsuit against
GlaxoSmithKline, said he broke his four-year addiction in 2002 and began
organizing the protest four months ago, starting in Philadelphia because
"this is their corporate castle in the U.S."
Standing with his wife in front of the drugmaker's 16th Street offices,
Robinson, 45, a former general contractor from Chattanooga, Tenn., said he
was not opposed to prescription drugs or to psychiatry overall. He rejected
the actor Tom Cruise's well-publicized criticism of psychiatry as
"pseudoscience."
"I don't think the use of psychiatric drugs is necessarily bad," Robinson
said.
Ryan Yorke, 17, a protester and former Paxil user from Clark, N.J., blamed
Paxil for episodes of rage and depression he said he felt since first taking
the drug following an anxiety attack. "Drugs, they're not all bad. But you
see the money the companies are making and putting money before human life,"
he said.
Robinson, with about 10 protesters supporting him, said he planned to remain
outside GlaxoSmithKline until tomorrow and has rented an airplane to fly
over the area trailing a banner opposing Paxil.
Joseph Rogers, executive director of the Mental Health Association of
Southeastern Pennsylvania, faulted drug companies for withholding negative
data, but said many people still benefited from the drugs.
"What we need is psychiatrists who are trained in these drugs," Rogers said,
"and we need consumers who have information" to make better decisions.
Read what GlaxoSmithKline, the Paxil protesters and the Food and Drug
Administration have to say about the antidepressant at
http://go.philly.com/paxil.
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Contact staff writer Thomas Ginsberg at 215-854-4177 or
tginsberg@phillynews.com.
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© 2005 Philadelphia Inquirer and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved
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