Chair of Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency welcomes new inquiry into SSRI's

May 25, 2003. Source: DoH press release

The start of a new inquiry into the safety of widely prescribed antidepressant drugs, including Seroxat and Prozac and others of their class, was welcomed today by Professor Alasdair Breckenbridge, Chair of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

In response to growing public concerns, the MHRA has set up an expert group of the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) to review SSRI's, (selective serontonin retake inhibitors) and to carry out an independent scientific assessment.

There will be a particular emphasis given to potential withdrawal reactions and reported suicidal behaviour. Patient representatives have also be invited to take part in the working group.

Speaking about the first meeting of the group, held last week, Professor Alasdair Breckenridge said: "SSRI's have been kept under close review for the past 5-6 years. However, we are aware that there is ongoing interest amongst patients about withdrawal reactions, feelings of suicide and whether these are linked to SSRI's. As a result, there will be an indepth investigation into these very areas.

"It is important that we listen to the views and understand the experiences of patients who have taken these popular antidepressants, including seroxat, so patient reports are going to form an important part in the assessment of the safety of SSRI's.

"The expert group will also be reviewing the product information for SSRI's to make sure that provides the best information is available to allow prescribers and patients to make informed decisions.

"This review will be carried out in an open and transparent manner and the findings made public. We welcome this opportunity to fully explore these questions."

The expert group today determined the scope of the review, agreed terms of reference, and looked at likely timescales.

The full membership of the group is as follows:
Chairman:
Professor Ian V D Weller, Professor of Genitourinary Medicine & Head of Department of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Royal Free & University College London Medical School, Vice Chair of the Committee on Safety of Medicines
Members:
Professor Deborah Ashby, Professor of Medical Statistics, London University.
Mr Richard Brook, Chief Executive of MIND
Dr Johnathan Chick, Alcohol Treatment Unit, Royal Edinburgh Hospital
Professor Klaus Ebmeier, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh
Dr Elizabath Mukaetova-Ladinsk, Senior Lecture in Old Age Psychiatry, New University Newcastle General Hospital
Mr Eamonn O'Tierney, Member of the Royal College of Psychiatry's Commitee for patients and carers
Dr Ross J Taylor, Senior Lecuturer in General Practice, University of Aberdeen and General Medical Practitioner Principal, Grampian Health Board.

See also:
May 24: Is this journalism that makes a difference? - asks the BMJ on the Panorama Seroxat documentaries
May 12: Seroxat manufacturer hits back on BBC's Panorama programme against the drug's addiction and suicide links - "Anybody who suffers side effects of any sort I feel every sympathy for, but that does have to be balanced by the enormous benefit that is seen by many millions of patients around the world" - Dr Alastair Benbow, head of European clinical psychiatry at GlaxoSmithKline.
> What did you think of the programme? Let us know by email. Please give your name, profession and place of work
May 10: Better antidepressant prescribing is associated with fewer suicides - British Medical Journal paper by researchers in Australia
May 10: 'Tricyclics and SSRIs are equally effective in primary care' - concludes British Medical Journal paper
May 10: Co-proxamol overdose is an important means of suicide - claims British Medical Journal paper, co-authored by Prof Keith Hawton
May 10: Unknown unknowns in suicide and depression - comment by British Medical Journal editor Richard Smith.
May 10: GPs accused of not reporting Seroxat suicides - reports the Guardian
May 3: Seroxat maker abandons 'no addiction' claim - reports the Guardian
May 3: The problem with drugs - British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy presses home what it believes is the limited efficacy of anti-depressants.
March 30: SSRIs drug review halted over GlaxoSmithKline share links - reports the Guardian
Oct 20: BMJ review on Panorama's "The Secrets of Seroxat" - how plausible was this documentary on the addictive component to Seroxat?

Other links: www.benzo.org.uk. - To get a sense of the breadth and severity of patients' complaints of Seroxat and other anti-depressants and tranquillisers.

Add your comments
What do you think? Email your comments on the above
article to the editor using the form below. Selected comments will be displayed.

© 2001-7  Psychminded Limited. All rights reserved