Baum Hedlund attorney, Karen Barth Menzies Slated to Speak at FDA Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee Meeting on December 13, 2006 Concerning the FDA?s Review of Suicidality Data in Adult Antidepressant Studies

Karen Barth Menzies will testify before the FDA?s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on Wednesday. Ms. Menzies will be speaking from her perspective as an attorney who has represented more than one hundred families whose loved ones have committed suicide and individuals who have attempted suicide while taking an SSRI antidepressant.

Ms. Menzies submitted a statement to the FDA?s advisory committee on December 1, 2006 detailing the long history of drug manufacturer and FDA failure to warn of the risk of antidepressant-induced suicidality. (Copies available upon request.)

In her testimony before the PDAC, Ms. Menzies will respond to the FDA?s meta-analysis of suicidality data released last week.

Karen will also be one of the speakers at two press conferences sponsored by the Alliance for Human Research Protection www.ahrp.org and www.WoodyMatters.com taking place the day before the FDA hearings, on December 12, 2006 in D.C. and Maryland, along with a number of experts (David Healy, MD, Joseph Glenmullen, MD, John Abramson, MD, David Cohen, Ph.D, Stefan Kruszewski, MD) who will provide a critical review of the FDA?s analysis.

Press Briefing #1:

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

National Press Club, Washington D.C.

First Amendment Lounge

529 14th Street NW

Washington DC 20045

202) 662-7500

Press Briefing #2:

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Hilton Silver Spring

Assembly Room

727 Colesville Road

Silver Spring, MD 20910

301)589-5200

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Karen Barth Menzies is a partner at the Los Angeles based law firm of Baum Hedlund and heads the firm's Pharmaceutical Litigation Department. For more than a decade, she has been handling SSRI-induced suicide/violence cases involving Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.

Heading a team of Baum Hedlund attorneys, she has successfully defeated drug company and FDA arguments that lawsuits involving FDA-approved drugs should be preempted. In addition to representing her clients and litigating hundreds of personal injury and wrongful death cases for over a decade, Karen has been fighting to increase public awareness about the risks of antidepressant drugs. Not only has she been a strong advocate for her clients, she has been a tireless advocate for all consumers (and potential consumers) of antidepressants. She has testified about the dangers of SSRIs before the California State Senate, the FDA?s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) meetings in 2004 and met with members of the Department of Health and Human Services and the House and Senate regarding the risk of antidepressant-induced suicidality. During her testimony before the February 2004 PDAC, she ended her speech by stating: "Put me out of business for the right reasons. Warn about these drugs"

Ms. Menzies has been an invited speaker in a number of public forums, at both medical and legal conferences, on the risks of antidepressants and the need for FDA reform. Her speeches have included: American College for Advancement in Medicine?s General Scientific Conference, Palm Springs, California, November 5, 2006, ?SSRI?s & Youth Suicide?; 29th International Congress On Law and Mental Health, Paris, France, July 2-8, 2005, "Federal Preemption ? How the U.S. Food & Drug Administration Has Become an Advocate for the Drug Industry Against the Consumers It Has a Duty to Protect"; ATLA, Las Vegas, NV, Sept. 16-17, 2005, "The FDA's Dilemma - Safety Failures, Public Scrutiny and Industry Influence"; The Recovery System's Clinic, Mill Valley, CA, December 6, 2005, "Antidepressant SSRI-induced Suicide Risks, Public Forum on Antidepressant Drugs: Risks, Benefits and Alternatives"; Insight Information-ALM, Toronto, Canada, January, 23-25, 2006, "Science, Regulation and Litigation Issues Regarding the SSRI-Antidepressants" - "Drug Safety, Best Practices, Litigation Update, Regulatory Developments"

She has written a number of articles, including "A Cure Worse Than the Disease,? TRIAL Magazine, 2005; "The FDA's Dilemma: Safety Failures, Public Scrutiny, and Industry Influence" ATLA Education Reference Materials, 2005; "Preemption and the FDA -- Politics as Usual" ATLA Winter Convention Reference Materials, 2006; "Preamble To FDA Final Rule: FDA s Latest Effort To Immunize Drug Manufacturers From Tort Liability At The Expense of Consumer Safety," Mealey's Emerging Drugs & Devices, February 2006.

In the past several years, Karen has appeared in or been quoted by the media more than 600 times. Some of her appearances have included ABC Primetime, Fox News, Good Morning America, MSNBC, New York Times, Reuters, The Guardian, People Magazine and the National Law Journal.

Ms. Menzies has received the following awards: Lawyer of the Year by Lawyer?s Weekly, 2004; California Lawyer of the Year by California Lawyer magazine, 2004; The National Law Journal?s Top 40 Under 40, 2005, for her ?extraordinary achievements? and ?impressive track record? for ?stepping up her fight in the past few years, advocating that pharmaceutical companies should warn about the alleged risks of antidepressant drugs?; and in 2006, Consumer Attorney of the Year Finalist, Consumer Attorneys of California. She received her law degree from UC Davis. She is AV® rated with Martindale Hubbell and is in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers; Who's Who in American Law; Who's Who in America; Who?s Who of American Women and Southern California Super Lawyers.