Effexor Lawyers

Antidepressant drugs such as Wyeth's Effexor and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Paxil appear to increase the chance of suicidal thoughts and attempts in adults under age 25, while reducing the risk among older adults, U.S. regulators said.

The risk of suicidal thinking or attempts is 62 percent higher among the young adults enrolled in clinical trials of antidepressants, compared with patients taking placebos, Food and Drug Administration staff said today on the agency's Web site. Among adults over 25, the risk of suicidal thinking declines by 21 percent, the agency said.

``They feel there is no apparent association here between antidepressant use and suicide risk in the over-25 adult population,'' said Ian Sanderson, a Boston-based analyst with Cowen & Co. ``I think it's a bit of a relief,'' and the market is unlikely to react negatively, he said.

The FDA reviewed studies on antidepressants in advance of a meeting of an advisory panel Dec. 13. A similar gathering in September 2004 on suicide risk in children taking antidepressants prompted the agency to require makers of the drugs, which also include Glaxo's Wellbutrin and Eli Lilly & Co.'s Prozac, to add the highest level of warning -- black boxes -- to their labels.

The warning led to a 20 percent drop in antidepressant prescriptions for children between March 2004 and June 2005. The FDA said in July 2005 that it would assess whether the drugs also increase the risk of suicidal thinking or actions among adults.

Cautious Interpretation

``We have to be cautious in interpreting a causal link between the medications and any increase in suicidal thinking and behavior,'' especially among young adults, said Kelly Posner, a Columbia University psychiatrist who helped create the system the FDA uses to categorize suicidal events. Even with young adults, ``These studies were not set up to assess for suicide risks.''

The review of studies in adults examined results from 372 trials involving 99,839 participants, the FDA said in its report today. Also included were Lilly's Cymbalta, Pfizer Inc.'s Zoloft, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s Serzone, Forest Laboratories Inc.'s Celexa and Lexapro, Akzo Nobel NV's Remeron and Solvay SA's Luvox.

In the trials reviewed by the agency, eight patients committed suicide, 134 attempted suicide, 10 took preparatory steps to kill themselves but never made an actual attempt, and 378 reported thinking about suicide without taking any action. Agency reviewers looked at all these categories in their analysis.