Warnings about the dangers of the drug Cylert (pemoline) have been around for quite some time, but they have been largely ignored in Canada. Even before it was approved for use in this country, the Health Protection Branch of Health Canada, which is responsible for ensuring the safety of pharmaceuticals, was warned that Cylert could damage the livers of patients using the drug.
Dr. Roger D. Freeman, the director of the neuropsychiatry clinic at British Columbia's Children's Hospital, was a consultant to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1973 when the drug was being considered for approval in America.
Freeman and two other specialists recommended against its approval, but were overruled. Dr. Freeman wrote to the Health Protection Branch warning them about the pending approval in Canada, but Cylert was approved anyway. According to the National Post, he Health Protection Branch has yet to publicly explain this decision.
During the first 10 months of the year, Canadian physicians wrote 25,000 prescriptions for the drug.
Public warnings about liver-destroying effects of Cylert, manufactured in Canada by Abbot Laboratories Ltd. of Montreal, have been raised since at least 1994, when an article outlining its hazards was published in an American medical journal.
That was the year after 14-year-old Jonathan Bain of Mississauga, Ont., died of liver failure after taking the drug for 18 months.
Abbot Laboratories sent out a letter to health care providers in 1997 saying Cylert should not be used as a first-line drug therapy for children with ADHD. But the drug remains approved for use here (it is banned in Britain) as it is in the United States.
The most common treatment for ADHD is the controversial drug Ritalin, which has been linked to drug-induced behavioural disorders, psychosis, mania, drug abuse, and addiction.
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