American global pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly on Friday cleared the first trial involving claims that its antidepressant Cymbalta caused severe withdrawal symptoms, including suicidal thoughts and electric shock-like sensations.

It has been said that the Indianapolis based pharmaceutical company was sued roughly by 250 plaintiffs who claimed that the company downplayed warnings about symptoms that occur after a patient quits the drug.

The trial about Cymbalta, which has annual sales of about $3.9 billion, is the first of four trials scheduled for this month.The lawsuit was filed by Claudia Herrera in federal court in California,

The trial started on Tuesday, and the jury gave its verdict on Friday. Lilly spokeswoman Celeste Stanley said in a statement that Lilly is sympathetic to Ms. Herrera's conditions, and the company is happy with the jury’s verdict.

Cymbalta is a drug which is part of a class of antidepressants known as serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. It was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2004 for treatment of major depressive disorder. Its approval was later expanded to include generalized anxiety disorder and fibromyalgia.

The label of the drug clearly warns that 1% or more of its users who discontinue the drug may experience symptoms like nausea, irritability and insomnia, and other symptoms such as sensory disturbances and seizures have been reported.

But plaintiffs suing Lilly alleged that withdrawal symptoms are far more common. According to Herrera's lawsuit, she started taking Cymbalta in 2006 for anxiety, but when she was instructed by doctors to ease off gradually, she said she started feeling electric-like ‘zaps’, anxiety, spasms and suicidal ideation, among other symptoms.