Fears over drug deaths

AN anti-depressant prescribed almost 200,000 times a year in Ireland has been directly linked to 118 deaths in Britain.

The drug venlafaxine - sold in Ireland under the name Efexor - has been singled out by the National Statistics Office in Britain in a major study of deaths linked to the use of antidepressants.

In a report into 5,000 such deaths, venlafaxine was singled out on the basis that death rates associated with its use showed a continuous rise over a 10-year period.