GlaxoSmithKline plc: Social Anxiety Disorder campaign
Mark LaneOVERVIEW
In 1999 Paxil, manufactured by SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline plc), was third among the pharmaceutical industry's best-selling SSRIs, a class of drugs then used primarily to treat depression and anxiety-related maladies. The drugmaker's strategy for gaining ground on rivals Prozac and Zoloft included extending Paxil's market by winning approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat other forms of mental illness. When, in May of that year, the FDA made Paxil its only approved treatment for social anxiety disorder, the drug finally found itself in a position, after...