According to an article today in The New York Times, many doctors could curtail their prescriptions of antidepressants because of a new federal advisory committee’s recommendation that the medication should have the alarming “black-box” warning concerning suicide risks in children who take the drugs. Does this spell trouble for the mammoth antidepressant industry? Granted, despite the recommendation for a black-box warning, the percentage of children and teenagers who would experience suicidal thoughts would be small, according to tests. Further tests on antidepressant use and suicide in adults are in the works.There is a whole handful of big pharma companies that provide meds for everything from temporary blues or nerves to severe and debilitating depression. Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX - News) provides Celexa and Lexapro; Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY - News) marketed Prozac, which at one time was the premier name in happy pills, and it now provides Cymbalta; Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - News) is the name behind Zoloft; GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK - News) peddles Paxil and Wellbutrin; and Wyeth (NYSE: WYE - News) provides Effexor.
