Britain's drug regulator has announced that certain antidepressants should not be prescribed to children because they could make young patients suicidal.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said on Wednesday a study of evidence from drug companies concluded that the risks to those under 18 posed by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) outweighed the benefits.
Of this type of drug, only fluoxetine, marketed as Prozac, is not included in the warning, the agency said.
The drugs are not licensed for use by under-18s, but an independent advisory group said it was known that some doctors had independently decided to prescribe them to children.
The Department of Health said on Wednesday that 30,000 to 40,000 children and teenagers were prescribed SSRIs in the UK and about half of those were treated with Prozac.
The regulatory agency said side effects had been shown to include suicidal feelings, anxiety, insomnia, weight loss and headaches.
In October, the US Food and Drug Administration issued a health advisory alerting doctors to a possible link between antidepressant drugs and suicidal feelings in young people.
Prozac is the only drug approved in the US for treatment of major depressive disorders in children.
Alasdair Breckenridge, chairman of the British agency, warned that patients on SSRIs should not suddenly stop taking them, but should talk to their doctor about treatment.
The drugs specified in the government announcement were sertraline (marketed in the UK as Lustral, and in the US as Zoloft), citalopram (Cipramil or Celexa), escitalopram (Cipralex or Lexapro) and fluvoxamine (Favarin or Luvox). Earlier this year, warnings were also issued on the risks of paroxetine (Seroxat or Paxil) and venflaxine (Efexor or Effexor).
The regulatory agency said that this left only fluoxetine (Prozac), which appeared to have "a positive balance of risks and benefits" in treating under-18s.
Professor Gordon Duff, chairman of the independent advisory Committee on Safety of Medicines, said it had issued comprehensive advice on the use of these drugs for children after a thorough review of all the evidence available.
"This gives parents, young people and those who treat these devastating illnesses the information they need to make informed decisions about treatment," he said.
"None of these drugs has ever been licensed for use in those under 18," he said.
"We know, however, they are used in this age group outside of their licensed indications where prescribers make a judgement on their own responsibility that it is the correct treatment for a particular patient," he said.
The regulatory agency said it was going to release data from clinical trials on SSRIs and children which had been supplied by drug companies to allow doctors to assess the information on which the advice was based.
The expert group is continuing to focus on the safety of the drugs in adults.
Professor Ian Weller, chairman of the working group, said there was no evidence to suggest the risk of treatment outweighed the benefits for adults.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese