DEPRESSING ANTIDEPRESSANT NEWS

On February 2 the FDA heard testimony on whether the Prozac class of antidepressants known as SSRIs put under-18s at risk for suicide. As reported here by Richard DeGrandpre ("Trouble in Prozac Nation," January 5), British regulators have all but banned the pediatric use of these drugs. After our editorial went to press, Britain took a step in the direction advocated by DeGrandpre, beginning a study on whether the same effects occur in adults. The February hearing moves the FDA in the same direction, but not terribly far. The agency has conceded that studies submitted by SSRI-makers do show a risk for suicide in under-18s and admitted that these studies show they do not work. The FDA has, however, put off any further action until a study is completed this summer. Meanwhile, it continues to reject the claim that the same charge of violence applies to adult use--despite a decade of testimony in medical journals and evidence that led at least two courts to accept evidence that SSRI use explains incidents of suicide and murder.

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