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medpundit |
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Tuesday, December 07, 2004Yesterday, U.K. regulators said the drugs should not be prescribed for patients with mild depression and, instead, suggested doctors promote such options as counseling. The agency also called for stronger warnings about side effects after a drug is stopped. Overall, the regulators found the benefits of antidepressants outweighed the risks in adults. But they also noted Wyeth's Effexor was linked to a higher rate of deaths from overdose than other drugs and the pill may cause heart problems. As a result, U.K. regulators said Effexor should only be prescribed by specialists and should not be given to any patient with heart disease. Wyeth said it will challenge the agency's recommendations. "We don't think there's any scientific basis for this decision," Joseph Camardo, Wyeth's senior vice president of medical affairs, said. He said the number of patients who took an inappropriate amount of Effexor and experienced a heart problem was "fewer than a dozen." The number of Effexor patients who took an appropriate dosage and suffered a heart problem was fewer than worldwide, he said. Does Effexor cause heart problems? It could, potentially. Here's a report of it interfering with an implantable defibrillator, but this review of the literature found little evidence of cardiac side effects.It probably isn't terribly toxic to the heart, but it might increase the risk of heart problems a little bit. Hard to say. Guess we'll have to wait until the data the British have is made public. posted by Sydney on 12/07/2004 11:58:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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