Study 329: the big fraud is finally under review

A recent legal challenge could finally force the retraction of a fraudulent study that sold Paxil as “safe and effective” for teenagers.

It began with a lie.

In 2001, the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP) published a paper declaring that the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) was “generally well tolerated and effective” for adolescent depression.

That conclusion was false.

The manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), knew from its own data that the drug failed to outperform placebo and carried a serious risk of suicidal behaviour.

Instead of telling the truth, GSK hired a public-relations firm to ghostwrite the paper, enlisted academic co-authors who never saw the raw data, and used the publication to promote Paxil to doctors treating children.

It became known as Study 329 — one of the most infamous cases of scientific fraud in modern psychiatry.

For years, the fraud stood unchallenged. Regulators issued warnings but never forced a correction. The journal refused to retract. The paper remained in circulation — cited hundreds of times, shaping prescribing habits, and legitimising a lie that cost young lives.

Now, more than 20 years later, one lawyer is taking on the medical establishment to hold the journal and its publisher accountable.

His lawsuit alleges they knowingly sold and profited from a false and deceptive scientific article — one that continues to mislead the public and endanger adolescent mental health.

Could Study 329 finally be retracted from the scientific record?