by year 2000 EFFEXOR site had 200,000 hits & awards from "Mental Health Media"

http://stevewhiting.co.uk/effexorfx.aspx


By the beginning of 2000 the website had received over 200,000 visits and had, to my surprise, been nominated for and had then become a short-listed finalist in the prestigious mental-health media awards (along with websites run by the BBC and the Samaritans, for example), which I like to think was quite an achievement in the circumstances (even if I do say so myself!). By this time I had also received over 1000 emails from patients experiencing difficulties with the drug (particularly withdrawal difficulties).

Also by this time, the site had also managed to help to create sufficient cause for concern amongst the medical profession to prompt the Food & Drug Administration in the United States to re-examine the drug's trials database and licensing literature and in March 2000 the FDA forced the manufacturer to include warnings in the literature supplied with the drug about the various side-effects and withdrawal symptoms which I and many thousands more had suffered as a result of taking a drug - A drug which we and our Doctors were told was safe, even though (as the wording of the warnings confirmed) the manufacturer knew from the clinical trials database that they could in fact occur, but had failed to disclose this information to the various regulators. (See March 2000 Safety Related Labelling Changes).