To view original article click here
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Aug. 9 1990 12:00 a.m. MDT
A salesman says he developed suicidal impulses while taking the anti-depression drug Prozac, and he once intentionally smashed his car into a truck.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Ralph Langer of suburban Chicago is seeking more than $1 million in damages from the drug manufacturer, Eli Lilly & Co. of Indianapolis, and its subsidiary, Dista Products Co.Langer contends in the lawsuit that Eli Lilly has failed to warn doctors about what the suit said is a link between Prozac and suicidal or aggressive behavior.
An Eli Lilly spokeswoman refused to comment on the lawsuit, but defended the drug as safe.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no evidence of the drug being linked to specific deaths and still considers the drug safe, spokeswoman Eva Kemper said in a telephone interview from Maryland.
Langer contends he began experiencing suicidal and self-destructive impulses after his therapist prescribed Prozac in September 1987 to treat his depression.
Other lawsuits also have been filed involving the drug.
Langer’s lawsuit says that at one point while on the drug, he intentionally drove his car at high speed into the rear of a truck. He suffered broken bones and bruises in the crash.
His attorney, Aron D. Robinson of Chicago, said his client had never had suicidal impulses before being prescribed Prozac.
He said this was the pattern in other Prozac cases studied by his law firm.
Lilly spokeswoman Mari Abbott said the drug was tested on more than 11,000 people before it was marketed.