On December 13, 2006 the FDA's Psychopharmaceutical Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) is meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland to discuss antidepressant-induced suicidal behavior in adults. In 2004 the FDA held similar hearings on children and concluded that antidepressants do cause suicide in humans under 18 years of age. A warning has been placed in all antidepressant labels or package inserts.Now the agency has given advanced notice of its new findings--antidepressants, all of them according to the FDA, cause increased suicidality in young adults. Suicide occurs more than double on antidepressants than on placebos in individuals under age 25.
Evidence has suggested that Paxil and Prozac cause suicidality in adults. These discoveries then led to settlements in product liability suits brought against the two companies by surviving family members.
Drug company groomed data creates the biggest loophole in the FDA's evaluations of drug safety. In May 2006 GSK published a Dear Healthcare Provider letter admitting that Paxil causes suicidality in depressed adults, but even that data was diluted before it was processed. The real picture is even worse and the article in its entirety demonstrates how GlaxoSmithKline withheld this info from the public. (Huffington on Paxil)
