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| | | From: 2many (Original Message) | Sent: 1/8/2004 5:04 AM |
"UK Probe into antidepressant link to suicides Tue 6 January, 2004
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4079142By Richard Woodman
LONDON (Reuters) - The government's medicines agency says it will look
into
whether people taking new anti-depressant drugs are at increased risk
of
suicide.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said the study
would
estimate the risk of suicide, suicidal thoughts, non-fatal overdose and
self-laceration in patients taking selective serotonin re-uptake
inhibitors
(SSRI) and tricyclic anti-depressants (TCA).
Britain has taken the lead in reviewing the safety of the newer SSRI
class
of drugs following reports that some depressed patients turn violent or
suicidal after starting medication.
A safety review in children last year resulted in the UK agency
advising
doctors not to prescribe the majority of SSRIs to under-18s as the
risks of
treatment were found to outweigh the benefits. A notable exception was
Prozac.
The new study will follow patients of all ages up to 90 who were
diagnosed
with depression between 1995 and 2001, the agency said.
Relative risks of suicide and other problems would be calculated for
SSRI
and TCA treatment versus no drug treatment, SSRI versus TCA treatment,
and
for each SSRI compared with GlaxoSmithKline's SSRI Seroxat/Paxil
(paroxetine).
Officials were not immediately available to explain why the Glaxo
product
had been singled out though one possible explanation is that it is the
most
commonly prescribed SSRI.
Drug companies insist that millions of patients have been prescribed
SSRIs
without problems and that any suicidal thoughts are the result of their
depression rather than the treatment."
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