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Warning over antidepressant Seroxat
Added: (Wed Sep 07 2005)
22 August 2005 18:45
New warnings were sounded todsay about the possible suicidal side effects of commonly used antidepressants.
Researchers analysed the results of 16 trials involving the drug paroxetine (Seroxat) - one in a class of drugs known as Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) - used by adult patients.
Experts have already warned that the drug is not suitable for children and adolescents due to an increased risk of suicidal thoughts.
Now the latest study, published in the journal BMC Medicine, suggests that these warnings should also be extended to adults.
But GlaxoSmithKline, makers of Seroxat, said it own extensive research showed that the benefits of using the medication outweighed the risks.
Last year the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's (MHRA) Committee on Safety of Medicines reviewed the safety of SSRIs.
Their report concluded that a modest increase in the risk of suicidal thoughts and self-harm for SSRIs could not be ruled out, but the benefits for adults outweighed the risks.
The warning follows a recent move urging GPs across the Norwich area to seek alternatives to pills after it emerged that the practices in the city are among the highest prescribers of anti-depressants in the country.
Norwich Primary Care Trust last year spent nearly one and a half rimes as much as the national average on mental health care, with a large proportion accounted for by the prescribing of drugs for stress and depressions.
However, GPs in the city say the high dependence on drugs is a result of a shortage of alternatives such as counsellors.
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