BMJ  2005;330 (19 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7488.0-h

Editor's choice

Pills, thrills, and bellyaches

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Drug safety, regulation, and happiness continue to dominate the health agenda. Last summer, New York's district attorney Elliot Spitzer forced GlaxoSmithKline to publish undisclosed trial results of paroxetine ( BMJ 2004;328: 1513[Free Full Text]). US and European drug regulators reassessed the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors to treat depression in children—a condition that some psychiatrists argue should not be treated with drugs (p 418). In October the US Food and Drug Administration directed manufacturers to include a "black box" label warning about all antidepressants and risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts in children.

It isn't just SSRIs that have taken a battering. Manufacturers of COX-2 inhibitors continue to reel from exposure of the link between rofecoxib and cardiovascular toxicity (p 381; BMJ 2004;329: 867[Free Full Text]). The conduct of drug companies and regulatory authorities is under intense scrutiny from parliamentary . . . [Full text of this article]

Kamran Abbasi, acting editor

(kabbasi@bmj.com)


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Rapid Responses:

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