Rivotril/Klonopin and similar drugs

We the individuals and organizations listed below have electronically signed this petition to point your attention to the following health preserving, life saving and international health cost-saving information:

We ask that pharmaceutical companies such as Hoffmann-La Roche are supervised very closely. We ask that licensing is conducted very carefully and if need be revoked. We ask that very serious side and after effects and warnings are made known not only to a privileged few, but planet-wide: to all concerned.

Close to 300 former and present Klonopin/Rivotril (clonazepam) users have electronically signed a justice for victims of Klonopin/Rivotril petition (www.petitiononline.com/k12345/petition.html) addressed to Roche Pharmaceuticals which has existed for approximately three years now.

Many of the individuals who signed this petition report having been prescribed the highly addictive benzodiazepine Klonopin/Rivotril for very lengthy time periods. Many report extremely agonizing withdrawal symptoms and very lengthy as well as excruciatingly difficult withdrawal periods. Many individuals report that the highly addictive nature of this drug was not disclosed to them.

A number of individuals report that it has been completely impossible for them to stop taking the drug and compare its highly addictive quality to that of a narcotic. Many report having been left alone in their efforts to get off the drug. Many have cried for help in withdrawing from Rivotril/Klonopin but have not been heard or properly treated.

Klonopin/Rivotril (Clonazepam) has been classified as a schedule IV drug in the U.S., yet has been licensed not only for treatment of seizures in the U.S., but also for treatment of relatively minor psychological disorders such as panic disorder, etc.

Many individuals suffering from relatively minor psychological disorders such as panic disorder state that they have been prescribed Klonopin for a number of years, despite the fact that testing for treatment of panic disorder (one of the many applications of the drug) has supposedly been done only for 9 weeks.

Many of the individuals who signed the justice for victims of Klonopin/Rivotril petition addressed to Roche have cried for help, and it appears that many have cried for help in vain. The only real help that appears available to them involves an online benzodiazepine addiction information site called www.benzoorg.uk.

Placing individuals suffering from relatively minor psychological or neurological disorders such as panic disorder or restless legs syndrome on highly addictive and potentially--in the long term--very harmful medications such as Klonopin/Rivotril (Clonazepam) may be in the interest of the pharmacological lobby and possibly also in the interest of a number of physicians and pharmacies, it does not, however, appear to be in the interest of the individuals themselves, nor does it appear to be in the interest of a reduction of internationally exploding health care costs.

In Germany and other parts of Europe, Klonopin/Rivotril has, unlike in the U.S., not officially been licensed for treatment of panic disorder and has not received schedule IV scheduling. It has been licensed for treatment of childrens and infants epileptic seizures and is also prescribed for treatment of other types of movement disorders, which ironically enough it can - within the context of long-term use - also cause or if applied long enough exacerbate, i.e. make worse, as well as for anxiety disorders.

Whereas Roche has meanwhile disclosed potentially devastating side effects of Klonopin/Rivotril such as suicide ideation, suicide attempt, hallucinations, psychoses, anorexia, coma, paralysis, choreiform movement disorders, bladder dysfunction, etc. in the U.S., it has failed to disclose these side effects in a number of other parts of the world, including Germany, where it also for many, many years has failed to disclose the potentially very devastating withdrawal symptoms of the drug, as well as its highly addictive quality that does not effect only individuals prone to addiction, but any one who takes the drug for longer than several weeks.

Considering the fact that Rivotril/Klonopin is a drug that has been licensed for treatment of childrens and infants seizure disorders in countries such as Germany, this kind of failure to disclose such potential side and after effects seems to take on highly dangerous proportions which undoubtedly has caused a great deal of unnecessary pain and suffering, and even death.

The justice for victims of Klonopin/Rivotril petition addressed to Roche appears to have been on-line since 2002. Among other things it has asked (and continues to ask) Roche to disclose all of Rivotril/Klonopin side effects and withdrawal effects on product literature and to prescribers and pharmacies, as well as to provide equal and consistent prescribing guide lines to physicians worldwide.

This, thus far, has, however, not been the case in Germany (as well as other parts of Europe): in the contrary. Not only consumers are not properly informed about the potentially very devastating side effects of the drug, even doctors and pharmacists appear to be left in the dark.

Furthermore, it appears that even in the U.S. - with its far stricter consumer protection related laws than in many other parts of the world - highly important information materials and warnings about this potentially very dangerous drug are not properly disclosed: The highly addictive nature of the drug being just one of the pieces of information not made properly known to consumers, as well as (apparently) even to physicians.

Rather than properly informing the physician and consumer that addiction to benzodiazepines such as clonazepam can occur as early on as within a time period of several weeks, the information on clonazepam and treatment of panic disorder provided on Roches U.S.A. website misleadingly states There is no body of evidence to answer the question of how long the patient treated with clonazepam should remain on it. and merely issues a real warning as to the addiction dangers concerning addiction-prone individuals (such as drug addicts or alcoholics), undoubtedly leading a fairly large number of physicians and consumers to wrongly assume that only addiction prone individuals can become addicted to the drug.

To make things even worse, severe violations in the proper manufacture of Klonopin/Rivotril (Clonazepam) have occurred involving the adulturation of the drug, repeated improper expiration date labelling, improper drug product inspection procedures, as well as the manufacture of a large number of so-called experimental batches in Puerto Rico facilties without explanation of purpose or mode of manufacture, etc.
(see http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/m4020n.pdf)

Please note that in electronically signing this petition we are not advocating the non-use or non-prescription of Klonopin/Rivotril: We do, however, ask that Rivotril/Klonopin consumers and prescribers world-wide be properly and promptly informed about ALL the risks and warnings concerning this medication.

We the individuals who have electronically signed this particular petition concerning Klonopin/Rivotril addressed to YOU, the FDA, the German Bundesinstitut fьr Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte (the German FDA) and similar institutions and associations across the planet, now would like to end our particular petition text addressed to you, by asking that you take your responsibility to us as human beings and pharmaceutical product consumers seriously, seeing to it that pharmaceutical companies such as Roche are supervised very closely, that licensing is conducted very stringently and if need be revoked, and that proper and immediate disclosure of highly dangerous, potentially deadly violations of the proper manufacture of medication and proper and immediate disclosure of other medication related warnings, harmful side and after-effects is made not just to a privileged few, but planet-wide to all concerned, including in Germany, where a number of Klonopins most serious side effects are not made known.

Thank you.