The CEO of Mind, a UK mental health charity, has resigned from the Committee on Safety of Medicines. Richard Brook was working as part of an expert working party which was looking into anti-depressants. There was a row regarding the excessive dosage of the antidepressant Seroxat.

As he resigned he labelled the drug regulators as negligent. He says they suppressed evidence that was ten-years-old. This evidence indicated that Seroxat was being prescribed by doctors at doses that were too high (dangerously too high).

It is only recently that the CSM (Committee on Safety of Medicines, UK) has been telling doctors that the recommended dose of Seroxat is 20mg.

Mr. Brook said the working group he was working with had told the CSM last October about its concerns about the dosage levels of Seroxat. It took from then until last week for the CSM to start sending reminders to doctors about the correct dosage.

In the UK last year, 17,000 were advised by their doctors to take doses higher than the 20mg.

Seroxat has side-effects, these include violent impulses and agitation.

Mr. Brook has said that the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (UK) had known about the dangers of higher doses since 1990. The Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency licences drugs on advice from the CSM.