Based on an article in the Washington Post, GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) agrees to disburse $3 billion to settle US lawsuits. This amount is for the resolution of unsettled legal cases in the US, pertaining to illegal promotion of the company’s prescription drugs, questionable Medicaid rebates, and issues surrounding Avandia, the popular diabetes drug that has been shown to cause an increased risk of heart attacks.

GSK is also the manufacturer of Paxil, a member of the class of antidepressant drugs known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). New data analysis, however, showed that antidepressants like Paxil may not be the best way in treating depression. This is generally because of the dangerous side effects it allegedly causes and some of those are even life-altering. This analysis was published in a recent issue of the Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics and in another article in the Medical News Today.

With the various public health advisories from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), people with depression should consider another way of treatment other than Paxil intake which has been consistently blamed for causing harmful side effects.  Other than the clinical findings and research studies, reports from patients showed that Paxil has caused severe damages on their lives in general and health in particular. These reports are corroborated through the Paxil lawsuits they filed against GSK.

Paxil has been the object of litigation due to the various harms it caused the patients, including birth defects, suicide, abnormal mood shifts, unusual personality changes, hallucination, psychosis, insomnia, hostility, agitation, self-harm and other acts of violence.

Several Paxil lawsuits have been filed to recover damages for patients who committed suicide while taking Paxil. The litigations contend that GlaxoSmithKline failed to warn the public about the dangers of taking Paxil. One class action in California implicated the company of restricting the information about the side effects of Paxil from the public.

 The company was further accused by US governmental entities of illegally intruding with the release of a generic drug version of Paxil. This caused other states to pay more for the antidepressant drug in their health programs.  In March 2006, GSK agreed to pay $14 million (to be divided among the states affected) in settlement of the dispute.

Also, many women who have given birth to children with Paxilbirth defects have filed lawsuits against GSK, alleging that it should have informed them of the dangers before they became pregnant. Those who want compensation for the distress they suffered under Paxil regimen may seek legal advice for more on information on Paxil lawsuits.