Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1313

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Government "discusses" drug safety with corporation
Monday Magazine 2003 Jun 25

Full text:

According to a statement from Jill McKinlay, a Toronto spokesperson for the transnational drug company that makes the anti-depressant Paxil, “GlaxoSmithKline Inc. is in discussions with Health Canada regarding proposed updates to the prescribing information for Paxil in pediatric patients.”

The drug has been the subject of intense media scrutiny in Britain, where the prime minister’s office issued a warning a few weeks ago against prescribing it to children due to an elevated risk of suicidal thoughts and self-harm. Health Canada is yet to warn Canadian physicians about the risks.

“They’re sitting down and negotiating a warning with the company,” says Victoria drug policy researcher Alan Cassels. If it was a question about safe tires, for example, he says the company wouldn’t be involved in discussing how to warn the public. “It’s not appropriate.”

There were 3.5 million prescriptions dispensed for Paxil in 2002, making it the ninth most prescribed drug in Canada and the top anti-depressant. Around 35,000 of those prescriptions would have gone to children. Two out of three recipients are women.

Health Canada spokesperson Ryan Baker says the government needs to talk with the company because the company owns the data on the drug. “Typically when Health Canada reviews the safety of a drug it will often involve talking with the manufacturer.”

Asked if the government’s slowness to act is putting Canadians at risk, he says, “I don’t want to speculate, but I know health professionals who prescribe anti-depressants are typically up to date on the latest information.”

GlaxoSmithKline spent $4,196,000 in 2002 promoting Paxil to prescribers, says Cassels, and distributed 511,000 free samples—don’t forget it’s addictive—to Canadian physicians.