It’s Black Friday for drug manufacturers: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said today that all antidepressants must carry the government’s “black box” safety alert to warn that the drugs are linked to increased suicidal thoughts and behavior among children and teens. That means Pfizer’s (nyse: PFE - news - people ) Zoloft, GlaxoSmithKline’s (nyse: GSK - news - people ) Paxil, Wellbutrin and Zyban, Forest Laboratories’ (nyse: FRX - news - people ) Celexa and Lexapro, Eli Lilly’s (nyse: LLY - news - people ) Prozac and Cymbalta, Wyeth’s (nyse: WYE - news - people ) Effexor, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s (nyse: BMY - news - people ) Serzone and a host of other antidepressants, even those in somewhat different chemical classes. The new labels must also include details of pediatric studies that indicate that Prozac is the safest antidepressant for young people so far. The mandated warning may be particularly bad news for Glaxo. This summer, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit against the company headed by Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Garnier over unpublished data on Paxil. (see Silver Lining In Drug Disclosure.)
