Researchers said a popular antidepressant was safe for teens. It was actually deadly. [View all]

[villager]

For years, the drug company GlaxoSmithKline was illegally persuading doctors to prescribe paroxetine, sold under the brand name Paxil, as an antidepressant for children and teenagers. They did so by citing what's known as Study 329 — research that was funded by the drug company and published in 2001, claiming to show that Paxil is "well tolerated and effective" for kids.

That marketing effort worked. In 2002 alone, doctors wrote two million Paxil prescriptions for children and adolescents.

But now here's the horrifying news: A major new analysis of the raw data behind Study 329, published in BMJ, suggests that the original conclusions were wildly wrong. Not only is Paxil ineffective, working no better than placebo, but it can actually cause serious side effects, including self-injury and suicide.

Unlike the original study, this follow-up research isn't funded by the drug manufacturer. And the researchers found that GSK had manipulated their data and selectively downplayed the harms of the drug in their analysis.

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http://www.vox.com/2015/9/19/9355121/paxil-research-fraud