The European regulatory agency covering drugs is now issuing a warning to all member nations and recommending that the drug be prescribed with caution to people under the age of 30, noting that "there is a possibility of an increased risk of suicide-related behavior in young adults."
The maker of this drug is U.S. pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, a company that is now facing fraud charges in the United States for concealing information from the FDA about the links between its drugs and suicidal behavior in children. GlaxoSmithKline, of course, denies that its drug causes increased suicides. However, observers who have been watching anti-depressant drugs for several years, such as myself, have noted that, in general, SSRI drugs are frequently linked to violent behavior such as the Columbine massacre in the United States, which was perpetrated by students who were taking anti-depressant drugs.
What's most interesting about this news, however, is the fact that while European countries and doctors are being warned about the suicide risk associated with this drug, in the United States the FDA remains silent on the issue, appearing to be protecting the pharmaceutical industry at the expense of public health. Even when faced with the evidence that GlaxoSmithKline had been concealing negative studies showing this increased risk, the FDA has refused to take any action in terms of banning the drug or requiring stronger labeling to warn doctors about this potential risk.
Clearly this is yet another case where the FDA is looking out for the interests of the pharmaceutical industry -- an industry that it is supposed to be regulating, not promoting. None of this is surprising, however. It is the kind of behavior that is consistent with the position and behavior of the FDA -- an agency that should quite frankly be gutted and its directors prosecuted by the FBI for crimes against the American public.