Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Tough curbs on Prozac prescribed for children

 
 
Tough curbs on Prozac prescribed for children

· Antidepressant only to be used with counselling
· Drug manufacturer must continue to monitor safety

Sarah Boseley, health editor
Monday June 12, 2006

Guardian

Prozac is to be licensed for treating children over eight with depression, but regulators have imposed an unprecedented restriction on its use, ordering that it may not be prescribed unless talking therapies have failed, and even then a course of the drug must be accompanied by counselling.

The conditions imposed by the European licensing agency (EMEA) are likely to result in Prozac being used less to treat children. While neither Prozac nor any of the other antidepressants of its class had a licence, doctors were free to prescribe them as they liked.

 

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