Study 329: One of the Most Infamous Cases of Scientific Fraud in Modern Psychiatry
November 11th, 2025Via: Brownstone Institute:
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.
Just ran across this lecture by Chris Masterjohn PhD, giving a comprehensive evaluation of SSRI’s:
http://www.x.com/ChrisMasterjohn/status/1989140039100490095
About 20 years ago he was doing some deep exploration around vitamin K2, which he postulated was the “factor X” that Dr Weston A Price identified in his 1939 book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration”, as being a vital nutrient of healthy indigenous diets.