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Dept of Health

Answer

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many reports the Medicines Control Agency has received of suicides attributed to Efexor in each of the last five years; and how many yellow card reports the Medicines Control Agency has received about Efexor in each of the last five years. [132315] Miss Melanie Johnson: The number of adverse drug reactions received by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) under the yellow card scheme in respect of venlafaxine (Efexor) over the last five years is shown in the table, together with the number of reports of completed suicide. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number of UK reports for venlafaxine Number of reports of completed suicide for (Efexor) venlafaxine (Efexor) 1998 589 2 1999 444 3 2000 349 3 2001 303 1 2002 316 1 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. The number of reports received via the yellow card scheme does not directly equate to the number of people who suffer adverse reactions to drugs for a number of reasons, including an unknown level of under-reporting. It is important to note that the reporting of a reaction does not necessarily mean it was caused by the drug and may relate to other factors, such as the patients underlying illness or other medicines taken concurrently. As with all medicines, the MHRA and the Committee on Safety of Medicines are keeping the safety of venlafaxine under continuous review. The summary of product characteristics for venlafaxine advises prescribers about the risk of suicide that is inherent in patients with depressive illness.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

411 c456W;411 c459-60W; 132315

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Death Prescription drugs Medicines Control Agency Side effects Suicide Antidepressants Yellow card scheme

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk