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Nation in brief
New antidepressant caution in works
By wire services
Published August 21, 2004
WASHINGTON - Federal health officials are preparing stronger warnings for some antidepressants used in children after new analyses back a possible link to suicide.
Exactly what those warnings will say, and which drugs will be affected, haven't been settled, according to Food and Drug Administration documents released Friday.
"While there remains a signal of risk . . . for some drugs in some trials, it is important to note that the data are not black-and-white in providing a clear and definitive answer," FDA psychiatric drugs chief Dr. Thomas Laughren wrote the advisory panel this week.
The question is how strong the warnings will be, and whether any of the drugs will come with specific instructions not to use them in children and teenagers.
The controversy erupted last year, when British health authorities declared that most popular antidepressants might sometimes increase the risk of suicidal behavior in children and teenagers. They declared all but one - Prozac - unsuitable for depressed youth, but stopped short of a pediatric ban.
Possible link surfaces to Kansas serial killer
WICHITA, Kan. - Investigators in the BTK serial killings disclosed Friday that they have evidence from his writings that the killer was familiar with a professor at Wichita State University who died in 1991 and a folk song she had discussed in class.
Police Lt. Ken Landwehr asked the public for help in identifying anyone who had contact with the late professor P.J. Wyatt or knew someone familiar with a folk song titled Oh Death.
In a series of letters, the BTK killer claimed responsibility for eight deaths in Wichita between 1974 and 1986. The letters "BTK" stand for "bind, torture, kill." The communications had stopped for more than two decades before resuming this year.
35-vehicle pileup claims four lives in Wyoming
CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The death toll from a chain reaction of crashes on a Wyoming highway rose to four Friday as authorities spent the day clearing charred wreckage from the road.
Thirty-five vehicles piled up Thursday between Cheyenne and Laramie, beginning with seven tractor-trailer rigs and three passenger cars. Close to 40 people went to hospitals; three remained hospitalized Friday.
[Last modified August 21, 2004, 01:01:16]
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Nation in briefNew antidepressant caution in works
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