Widow Sues GSK Over Husband’s Alleged Paxil-Induced Suicide - NBC 5 Chicago

► A case in Chicago federal court has the potential to change the prescription drug landscape, per NBC 5 Chicago. Aired in May of 2014, this video tells the story behind lifelong Chicagoan Stewart Dolin’s alleged Paxil-induced suicide, and his wife’s subsequent lawsuit against the maker of Paxil, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

On July 10, 2010, 57-year-old Stewart Dolin began taking the prescription antidepressant medication paroxetine, the generic version of Paxil. GSK researched, developed, manufactured and marketed Paxil, which is the same chemical compound as paroxetine, and both use the same product information labeling.

On the afternoon of July 15, 2010, a nurse at a subway station near Washington Street in Chicago noticed Stewart Dolin pacing back and forth while looking in the direction of an approaching train that was not yet in sight. When the moving train appeared, the nurse observed Mr. Dolin leap onto the tracks, where he was struck. Ultimately, Mr. Dolin was pronounced dead from the injuries he suffered due to the collision and his contact with the electrified track after the collision.

The lawsuit alleges GSK failed to adequately warn Mr. Dolin’s doctor about Paxil/paroxetine’s association with an increased risk of suicidal behavior in adults of all ages. The Court previously ruled that while GSK did not manufacture the pills Mr. Dolin ingested, the company was nonetheless responsible for the label and knew or should have known any failure to warn would result in harm to those taking generic versions of the drug.

Generic drug makers are not permitted by law to change the labels produced by brand name drug makers – they are required to duplicate the language provided by the brand word for word. So, if a consumer alleges that a generic drug caused them harm, they are in what Dolin’s attorney, Brent Wisner, characterizes as a “donut hole of liability.”

"That's where you have the generic maker on one hand saying, 'We don't know about these risks. We can't be held responsible for them... plus, we can't change the label,'" Wisner told NBC 5 in a special report on the Dolin case. "And the brand name makers are saying, 'Well, we didn't make the pill.'"

According to Wisner, "the label as it existed was not sufficient… In fact, it says the risk of suicide does not extend beyond the age of 24. That's in the Black Box, the first thing you read. And that is factually incorrect and misleading."

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