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Drug companies not only withhold

unfavorable results but also pressure others to do so

Peter Wilmshurst, a leading UK heart surgeon, refused a bribe of two years' salary not to publish unfavorable results of a study he had conducted on an approved drug.

The Sunday Express 7 November 2004

Anti-depressants indicted for causing

suicidal tendency in young people

The Vioxx brouhaha and flu vaccine shortage have tended to overshadow older concerns about the tendency of antidepressant drugs to cause suicidal thoughts and actions in young people. The controversy over whether these drugs do more harm than good continues to rage.

The present solution is to place black box warnings on information sheets for patients, pharmacists and doctors,. This is the most stringent requirement the Food and Drug Administration can impose next to the outright banning of about 30 antidepressant drugs.

The black box warning states unequivocally that "Antidepressants increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children and adolescents" and advises that patients taking the drugs be kept under close observation. It also notes that the efficacy of these drugs has not been proved in children and teenagers.

According to Karen Barth Menzies, a lawyer representing families victimized by anti-depressant-induced suicides and suicide attempts, "The black box warning is a huge milestone that would not have been achieved absent the collective and ceaseless efforts of courageous victims, scientists with the integrity to speak out (despite pressure from the pharmaceutical companies), the media, congressional representatives, and the advocates doing all possible to increase the awareness of this suicide and violence risk. This combined effort has finally forced the FDA to do what it should have done 13 years ago."

Menzies said the FDA should also investigate cases in which adults as well as children taking the drugs have engaged in violence to others.

E.g. The youths responsible for the Columbine school massacre were taking antidepressants at the time. See also last item on page 5 of this issue.

Holistic nutritionist Mike Adams claims that "The very first week you start taking antidepressant drugs, your risk of committing suicide quadruples."

compared to people who exhibit the same symptoms of depression but are taking no drugs for the condition. In some drug trials, the risk of people in the group getting the antidepressant is only double that of those in the group getting the placebo.

Adams, author of The Ten Most Important Emerging Technologies for Humanity, has accused the FDA of first concealing study results that revealed increased suicides, attempted suicides and violent behavior among young people taking antidepressant drugs and then claiming there was "no conclusive scientific evidence linking antidepressants with potentially suicidal behavior in children."

He also points out that doctors in the UK are warned against prescribing antidepressant medications for children but no such warning has been issued in the US.

"The FDA seems far more interested in protecting drug company profits rather than protecting public health," he writes.

The FDA counters that people who suffer from depression are more likely to commit suicide whether or not they are taking antidepressants.

Some psychiatrists maintain that untreated depression presents a greater risk than the drugs.

The controversy continues.

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