Shelley Jofre, an investigative reporter for the BBC, published an article called, “Doctoring the Evidence: GlaxoSmithKline [GSK] Pushes Depression Drug,” on an online news source, CorpWatch.org. Jofre described how drug manufacturer GSK commissioned clinical studies and psychiatrists to mislead the public about the safety and efficacy of the antidepressant Paxil, which can cause serious side effects such as suicide. According to Jofre, the “spin-doctors” buried “the inconvenient facts and spread the good news to doctors around the world that paroxetine [Paxil] was safe and effective for children. Drug companies discovered long ago that doctors are much more likely to be persuaded by their peers than by the hard sell of sales reps. So GSK built a business relationship with several leading academics to write articles and speak at conferences, effectively selling paroxetine for the company.” The article gives a story of teenager Sharise Gatchell, who committed suicide by hanging while on Paxil, and how next to her suicide note laid a packet of the drug.
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