Sunday, July 13, 2008

Black Box Suicide Warning for Epilepsy Medications

I just came across an article about how research has shown that epilepsy medications can cause increased suicidial tendencies in patients. The FDA was considering making drug companies include a black box warning on the following medicines: Carbamazepine (marketed as Carbatrol, Equetro, Tegretol, Tegretol XR), Felbamate (marketed as Felbatol), Gabapentin (marketed as Neurontin), Lamotrigine (marketed as Lamictal), Levetiracetam (marketed as Keppra), Oxcarbazepine (marketed as Trileptal), Pregabalin (marketed as Lyrica), Tiagabine (marketed as Gabitril), Topiramate (marketed as Topamax), Valproate (marketed as Depakote, Depakote ER, Depakene, Depacon) and Zonisamide (marketed as Zonegran).

I thought is was interesting since so many of the epilepsy drugs are used to treat bipolar. In the end the advisory panel is advising that they do not this the statistics are enough to warrant putting the strong label on them.

Read the full article here:
FDA Advisers Don't Back 'Black Box' Warning for Epilepsy Drugs

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