A judge deemed a $63.8 million settlement fair and reasonable for a class-action suit against GlaxoSmith Klein, the makers of Paxil and Paxil CR.
The lawsuit claimed GlaxoSmithKline promoted the drugs while withholding negative information about the drugs’ safety and effectiveness. Paxil is usually used to treat depression and anxiety for children and teens. Members of this class action lawsuit included all U.S. residents who bought Paxil for their children.
Consumers who have records of their purchases can get full refunds for their expenditures.
The objections to the settlement were withdrawn prior to the fairness hearing after modifications were made. Those modifications included: Consumers who do not have records can get $100; the $300,000 cap for undocumented claims was eliminated; and the $16.6 million for attorney fees will be distributed to attorneys who have also done work to benefit the class-action suit other than the plaintiff attorneys.
http://www.belleville.comhttp://www.belleville.com/179/story/21022.html

This is a representation of some unlikely testimonials of people’s loved ones who committed suicide after being on Paxil for a short time period.
Here’s a sample: Scott G. spoke of his father who killed himself 13 days after being prescribed Paxil. Deborah G. spoke of her husband and Scott’s father, who loved life and whose suicide was completely unexpected. She shouted to committee members that antidepressant-induced suicides were nothing but a blood bath and mass murder.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=231325
The maker of the antidepressant Paxil has been hit with several new lawsuits, including two involving Ohio residents, that claim the drug caused heart defects with serious health consequences including death.
The lawsuit charges that use of the drug by pregnant women led to heart defects in their children. The suits also allege that the birth defects led to the deaths of three children and have seriously impaired the health of two others. The families are seeking unspecified damages from GlaxoSmithKline.

Paxil Lawsuit Pays $63.8 Million in Settlement
GlaxoSmithKline PLC has agreed to pay $63.8 million to settle a lawsuit’s claims that it promoted its antidepressant drug Paxil for use by children and adolescents while withholding negative information about the medication’s safety and effectiveness. (Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/01/business/NA_FIN_US_Paxil_Lawsuit_Settlement.php)

U.S. regulators that overdoses had been seen in patients taking Wyeth’s widely used anti-depressant Effexor mostly in patients who also use alcohol and other drugs.
Healthcare professionals are advised to prescribe Effexor and Effexor XR in the smallest quantity of capsules consistent with good patient management. The reported overdoses of the world’s most lucrative anti-depressant resulted in death or such symptoms as rapid heartbeat, coma, seizures, vomiting, and vertigo. (Reuters)

A recent study finds that you are more likely to have a recurrence of depression if women who are pregnant stop taking Paxil, but another recent study suggests that taking certain antidepressants like Paxil may harm your baby. (Source: Worst Pills)

study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggests that a health condition known as persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPHN) is six times more likely in babies whose mothers took SSRI antidepressants like Paxil after the 20th week of pregnancy compared to babies whose mothers did not take antidepressants.

Patients who miss doses of antidepressants can suffer from withdrawal or discontinuation syndrome which can lead to suicidal thoughts, shooting pain, and flu-like symptoms. About 280,000 Americans take Paxil CR, and about 14 percent of those patients take the 37.5 milligram pill that was recalled.

Paxil and Prozac work backwards and in about half of anti depressant using population eventually find the problem. In this small trial, glutamate got right to problem. (Read More About Paxil Problems)

Pacil may be Over-Prescribed for elderly accoding to In May 2006 report in the London Free Press. A study by Toronto’s Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences that showed seniors who were prescribed the new SSRIs such as Paxil and Zoloft were nearly five times more likely to commit suicide during the first month on the drugs than those patients given the older class of medications used to treat depression. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0609/S00008.htm
In conducting the study, researchers used Canadian coroners’ reports, prescription records, and hospital data, and identified 1,142 suicides among older Canadians, age 66+ from 1992 to 2000, and determined whether they had been prescribed antidepressants in the six months before their deaths.
In addition, Paxil is being Linked to Violence and Environmental Risk
One study of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of anti-depressants like Paxil suggests the drugs may increase the risk of severe violence and the other study indicates the drugs can have damaging effects on the environment.
Researchers would like big pharma coompany to share more data to help measure whether there are certain subpopulations that are vulnerable to violent behavior induced by these SSRI drugs like Paxil.The risk of severe violence is already noted on labeling, but has not been noted as a severe side effect.