Asthma drug Singulair linked to suicidality

Monday, 6 May 2013, 12:58 pm Article: Martha Rosenberg Asthma drug Singulair linked to suicidality by Martha Rosenberg May 6, 2013 World sales of Merck's blockbuster asthma drug, Singulair, were about $5 billion a year until last year when its patent expired in the United States. But the drug also has a darkening cloud over it. The Australian medicine watchdog has received 58 reports of adverse psychiatric events in children and teenagers taking Singulair since 2000 and reports have also surfaced in the US. Singulair, a leukotriene receptor antagonist or LTRA, is one of several "add-on" asthma drugs that were debuted in the last decade. Patients are supposed to add the new, "asthma controller" drugs to their regular rescue inhalers and inhaled corticosteroids not replace them. Ka-ching. In the US, Singulair was heavily marketed for minor childhood allergies, in addition to asthma, and sold in a cherry-flavored chewable formulation. Merck had marketing partnerships with Scholastic, a leading educational publishing group, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, reported the US' Fox News. Sales pieces from the Scholastic/ Merck partnership cajoled parents, "When your child breathes in an asthma trigger, such as pollen from trees or weeds, the body releases leukotrienes (loo-ko-TRY-eens)" which Singulair blocks. But they also told parents their children could experience, "hallucinations (seeing things that are not there), irritability, restlessness, sleepwalking, suicidal ...
Source: PharmaGossip - Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: Source Type: blogs