Anti-depression drug still in use despite warnings

26 января, 2003
The number of patients addicted to a drug treating depression has been increasing steadily despite the company warning the government that it should be banned. Mainichi Daily News via NewsEdge Corporation : 01/26/2003 The number of patients addicted to a drug treating depression has been increasing steadily despite the company warning the government that it should be banned. The drug, whose brand name is Ritalin, is dubbed by drug addicts as a "hospital upper" because it has similar effects to amphetamines and hallucinogenics. Ritalin has been on sale in more than 60 countries for treating oversleeping, but it is only used for light cases of depression in Japan. After experts voiced doubts about its effectiveness for mild states of depression, the Health Ministry began reviewing it in 1995. At that time, Novartis Pharma K.K., the company that markets Ritalin, told the ministry that the use of the drug on slightly depressed patients should be banned Officials of the company even added that at least one user committed suicide after taking the drug and becoming mentally unstable. "Users of the drug risk becoming addicted, and there are other effective drugs," one official of Novartis Pharma said. "So we thought that the drug had already finished its role as a treatment for slightly depressed patients." But the ministry only changed the description of suitable Ritalin users from "slight cases of depression" to "depression patients after other anti-depression drugs prove ineffective" in 1998. Now experts say that the government must take countermeasures as an increasing number of Ritalin users have become addicted or suffered mental and physical trouble. It is also alleged that some people pretend to be in a state of depression to receive Ritalin when seeing doctors because they believe they can get a kick by taking the drug. A 28-year-old woman said she had been diagnosed by mental doctors as being a depression patient and began taking three Ritalin pills a day. "Three pills a day soon lost their effect on me, so I visited several hospitals to receive the drug and took 20 pills a day," she said. "Then my heart beat sped up and I sometimes I used to hear strange noises, like I was hallucinating." She then visited the Akagi-kohgen Hospital, which exclusively looks after alcohol and drug abusers. Michio Takeyama, director of the Gunma Prefecture hospital, said that doctors should be aware of the risk of Ritalin users becoming addicted. "They have to be more careful about giving the drug to patients," Takeyama said. A 31-year-old man sought help at the Self-Support Service, a non-profit organization in Tokyo's Koto-ku that gives consultation to drug addicts, after he took a two-week prescription of Ritalin pills in just three days. "I couldn't help myself because I knew I could get high without being arrested," he said. An official of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry supervising the drug industry said that it still approves the use of Ritalin on depression patients because they have reports of its efficacy. Copyright 2003. All Rights Reserved. Financial Times Information Limited - Asia Africa Intelligence Wire http://www.novartis.com <> << Copyright ©2003 Financial Times Limited, All Rights Reserved >>
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