FDA Keeps Top Expert From Testifying

The All Politics Anti-Science Administration Scores Again

Top Food and Drug Administration officials admitted yesterday that they barred the agency's top expert from testifying at a public hearing about his conclusion that antidepressants cause children to become suicidal because they viewed his findings as alarmist and premature.

Dr. Andrew D. Mosholder, an agency epidemiologist, was the man charged with analyzing 22 studies involving 4,250 children and seven drugs. In a carefully argued, 33-page memorandum, he concluded that children given antidepressants were almost twice as likely as those given placebos to become suicidal.

He urged the agency to discourage doctors from prescribing to children all antidepressants except Prozac. Prozac is the only antidepressant proven effective in treating depressed children, and its studies showed no link with suicide, Dr. Mosholder wrote. Dr. Mosholder's conclusions mirrored those made by British health authorities.

The controversy had its start when GlaxoSmithKline sought a six-month extension to its patents on Paxil.

el - Paxil has several lawsuits that it leads to increased suicides. GlaxoSmithKline is a big GOP contributor, over a million reported in last two election cycles.