Panel: Was FDA timely on antidepressant risks?

A  House  committee is investigating whether health officials issued timely warnings about a potential suicide risk in children treated with antidepressants, two leading Republicans said Wednesday.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee also is examining whether regulators, or Congress, should require additional precautions on the labels of the drugs, according to a letter from Reps. Joe Barton and Jim Greenwood.

The Food and Drug Administration Monday urged close monitoring of patients taking antidepressants for signs of worsening depression and suicidal thoughts.

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No conclusion
The agency was updating earlier warnings about possible side effects from antidepressants when taken by children. U.S. health officials are studying whether drugs such as Eli Lilly and Co.’s  Prozac and GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Paxil can make children and teenagers suicide-prone, but they have not yet reached a conclusion.

British authorities have gone further than the FDA by advising doctors not to prescribe most of the drugs known as SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, to anyone under 18.

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“Given the serious implications that certain antidepressants may have for children, the committee is interested in learning the rationale for FDA’s decision not to require stronger warnings on the labeling for pediatric use of an antidepressant,” the lawmakers wrote to FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan.

FDA spokesman Jason Brodsky said the agency would provide a ”thorough and prompt” response to the letter.

Barton, who is from Texas, chairs the energy and commerce committee. Greenwood, from Pennsylvania, heads the panel’s investigations subcommittee.