Orangeflavour Prozac to be aimed at children
By James Langton in New York

PROZAC, the American antidepressant, may be targeted at children now that
its coverage of the adult market is almost complete.

The makers of the hugely popular pill are seeking permission to market the
drug to youngsters in peppermint and orange flavours. American doctors are
increasingly turning to antidepressants as a solution to the troubles of
childhood. Prozac, now 10 years old, is already established as the Nineties
drug of choice for adults seeking to allay the stresses of modern life. It
is worth $1.73 billion a year to its maker, Eli Lilly.

Now a bottle of Prozac could take its place alongside the Cheerios and
pancakes at the family breakfast table. There are well over 400,000
children under 18 in the US being treated with Prozac and the number of
teenagers increased by nearly half in the last year. Among six to
12yearolds, prescriptions rose by 298 per cent.

Doctors are already free to prescribe Prozac to children. Now Eli Lilly
wants clearance from the Food and Drugs Administration for a special
children's version.

Those who oppose the wider use of the drug say they are worried that it
will become a quickfix for parents of unruly children. According to Dr
Harold Koplewicz, vicechairman of psychiatry at the New York Medical
Centre: "It's part of the human condition to feel crummy if something bad
is happening in one's life. But that is very different from having a
clinical disorder."

Case studies of children taking Prozac show both sides. A Californian girl
complained that she was depressed because her parents were "too strict" and
stopped her doing "what other kids do". On the other hand a 15yearold
Long Island girl, obsessed that her parents were dying or burglars were
downstairs, became a star pupil after taking the drug.

The FDA has conceded that giving such drugs to children is a "difficult
issue" and plans to consult widely before ruling.

At least four million American children are said to be suffering from
depression, representing an important market for the future. Prescriptions
of antidepressants among adults have actually fallen in recent months,
largely because there is almost no one left to be put on a course.

Many are worried by the effect of feeding happy pills to children. The
conservative columnist Arianna Huffington grumbled last week: "If we teach
our children that pills will make them feel better, how can we tell them
not to try a joint or a few drinks to lift their spirits?"

But research at the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Centre claims that half
of all severely depressed children can be helped with drugs.

How to diagnose severe depression is another matter. The current Prozac
campaign suggests that symptoms include not going to sleep, finding it hard
to concentrate and being unusually sad or irritable. Symptoms that most
American parents, entering the third long month of the summer holidays, are
by now only too familiar with.

© Copyright Telegraph Group Limited 1997.