PHARMACEUTICALS company GlaxoSmithKline is facing legal action from hundreds of people who say they are hooked on the anti-depressant drug Seroxat.

A firm of solicitors has already gathered a dossier of evidence from more than 850 clients - including a Durham man who claimed it would be easier to withdraw from heroin than Seroxat.

Mark Harvey, a partner with Hugh James solicitors in Cardiff, said they wanted its manufacturer, Glaxo, to issue tougher warnings about the drug's side effects and carry out research into dependency problems.

"There is a claim that taking the drug can lead to significant bouts of depression and suicidal tendencies, but the greater problem is with withdrawal," he said.

"In many cases, people have complained that they feel worse than they did before, and some have spent eight, nine and ten years trying to come off the drug."

Seroxat is usually prescribed for mild depression, anxiety and phobias and, like Prozac, is one of the class of drugs known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors.

But there have been more than 1,200 complaints from doctors under a scheme set up by the Medicines Control Agency for reporting drugs' side-effects.

Mr Harvey said new cases were coming in at a rate of about ten a day.

He said people were more concerned about issuing tougher warnings rather than simply seeking compensation.

"We recognise that it does help some people, so we are not saying it should come off the market. But doctors should have better information at their fingertips when deciding whether or not to issue appropriate treatment."

There have been similar complaints in America and a US federal court judge has already ordered Glaxo to pull television adverts which state the drug is non habit-forming.

The company, which employs 1,500 people at Barnard Castle, County Durham, maintains that Seroxat is safe and that there is no reliable, scientific evidence that the drug leads to addiction.

A spokesman said: "We have yet to be approached by the firm of solicitors. We conduct extensive clinical trials and monitor them on a regular basis, as is the company's policy."

Simon's story

Simon said he felt like a wild animal as he came off Seroxat.

"I was totally devoid of all human emotions," he said. "I wasn't a human being any more."

The 32-year-old, from Durham, initially went on the drug as a short-term solution to combat work-related stress, which included general anxiety symptoms.

But when he tried to come off the drug four years later, he says he developed severe mood swings, feelings of violence and suicidal tendencies.

Simon blames the drug he was taking.

"I would end up taking it again because I couldn't cope with the withdrawal," he said.

It is now seven years since he first took the drug and the freelance musician has tried to come off Seroxat four times.

Sarah's story

WHEN Sarah first started using Seroxat, it helped her symptoms of depression and her general feeling that she couldn't cope.

But she says her real problems came two years ago when the office worker, from Chester-le-Street, County Durham, tried to come off the drug.

She said: "I had a general feeling of not being interested in life at all. I felt like a zombie."

Sarah, who was told by her doctor initially that she had a virus, returned to see him and was put back on 30mg a day.

The symptoms have subsided and she is now trying again to come off the drug, reducing her dosage by 5mg every other day.