Seroxt UK class action now only 500 clients says Daily Mail

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Around 500 people are suing GlaxoSmithKline on the grounds that the company concealed evidencethat their drug Seroxat (a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor) may cause withdrawal `syndrome' with symptoms including anxiety, pain, palpitations and memory lapses.

`Doctors are simply unaware of this withdrawal syndrome and unable to advise on what to do,' says Janice Simmons, co-ordinator of the Seroxat User Group.

Her husband John is one of the worst affected — she says each time he's tried to stop taking it, the symptoms have been so severe he's had to give up; he's been taking Seroxat for 19 years.

There are ways of tapering withdrawal - for instance, using a liquid dose of medication which can be gradually reduced far more easily than a tablet and which can normally be prescribed by GPs.

'The problem is most people haven't a clue how to access advice on withdrawal,' says David Healy, professor of psychological medicine at Cardiff University, whose protocol on the withdrawal of SSRIs is widely regarded as the best method of stopping the medication. 'GPs are rarely informed - and the pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to even admit that there is a problem.'


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