Researcher Sees Possible Prozac Cancer Link

March 27, 2002

-

" Ken S. " <shining

Tuesday, March 26, 2002 5:45 PM

Researcher Sees Possible Prozac Cancer Link Tue Mar 26, 5:52 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Prozac and related antidepressants could in theory

increase the risk of brain cancer by preventing the body's innate ability to

kill tumor cells, a British researcher said Tuesday. Professor John Gordon

of Birmingham University reported that Prozac and other selective serotonin

reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) encouraged growth of a type of cancer called

Burkitt's lymphoma in test-tube experiments. While there is no evidence from

clinical trials on people to back up the concerns, the finding is likely to

reopen controversy about the widespread use of the class of antidepressants

that first went on sale in the 1980s. Millions of people with depression and

anxiety have been prescribed the drugs, which have emerged as one of the

biggest sellers for the international pharmaceutical industry. Gordon, whose

findings were published in the online edition of the medical journal Blood,

said serotonin was a key driver in stimulating apoptosis, a natural cell

" suicide " process for controlling the runaway growth that leads to cancer.

SSRIs such as Eli Lilly and Co.'s Prozac, Glaxo SmithKline Plc's Paxil and

Lundbeck's Celexa, however, appear to block this action. Drug company

officials said there was no evidence that their pills caused any increase of

cancer in practice and questioned whether the high doses used in Gordon's

experiments may have been responsible for the results. " These data are from

an in vitro (test tube) study and as such they cannot be extrapolated to a

clinical setting with any degree of certainty, " said Martin Sutton, a

spokesman for GSK. Paxil, which is also known as Seroxat, has overtaken

Prozac as the world's best-selling SSRI with worldwide sales last year of

$2.7 billion.

-

ac_cancer_dc_2 -

Recommended Posts