BIG PHARMA

Doctors continue antidepressant prescriptions despite suicide warning

Health Canada warned in July that antidepressants Paxil and Effexor should not be prescribed to anyone under 18 years of age because they may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.
But sales of the drugs have dropped only slightly since then, which suggests that doctors haven't changed how they prescribe the drugs.
The new research suggests teens are at higher risk of thinking about suicide only when they first start taking the drugs.
Dr. David Healy, a world-renowned expert on antidepressants, says doctors need more extensive research on the effects of antidepressants on teens. But Healy says he's doubtful drug companies will conduct those studies because they may show increased risk of suicidal thoughts and may affect sales to adults as well.
Healy's expert testimony in last year's civil trial involving Paxil was one of the deciding factors in the plaintiff's jury victory in that case. Wyoming resident Donald Schell, 60, killed his wife, daughter and granddaughter and then himself with a gun in 1998 after only two days on Paxil.
The decisive factor in the case was the company's own internal data demonstrating that they knew Paxil could cause agitation and suicidal ideation in research subjects.
Two weeks after the verdict in the Paxil trial, Houston area mother and convicted murderer Andrea Yates drowned her five children while she was on not one, but two antidepressant "camisoles chimique".
What could have been an opportunity for the mass media to educate the public about the dangers of antidepressant drugs, instead has been a non-stop awareness campaign for the mental health industry about the need for more psychiatric "treatment".