Health chiefs are reviewing the safety of a potent acne drug after it was linked to more than 80 suicides and hundreds of severe psychiatric reactions.
Isotretinoin is prescribed on the NHS under the name Roaccutane to people with severe acne and scarring and is often hailed as a “wonder drug” for teenage skin problems.
However, in some cases it results in the sudden onset of depressive and suicidal behaviour and is prescribed with warnings. The medicines watchdog has recorded 1,773 psychiatric reactions to the drug, including 82 suicides.
In the past ten years there have been 221 incidents of self-harm and 51 suicides involving people on the drug, who are often teenagers, according to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The mother of Annabel Wright, a 15-year-old who killed herself after being prescribed the drug for mild acne, has called for tighter regulation. She told The Times how her “cheerful, ‘glass-half-full’ daughter” was overcome by “sudden waves” of harmful feelings that the family were not warned to look for by doctors prescribing the pills.
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Annabel took her own life in May 2019 at the family home in Ripon, North Yorkshire, after taking Roaccutane for six months. She had spent the evening happily planning a holiday with a friend, joking about revision with her mother and discussing her art GCSE exam the next day.
Yesterday a coroner ruled that there was no direct link between Annabel’s death and the drug and recorded a short suicide verdict. Her parents, Helen and Simon Wright, accused the authorities of “wilful ignorance” over the effects of Roaccutane.
The family had been anticipating a verdict that Annabel took her own life while the balance of her mind was disturbed by the medication. Outside the court in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, Helen Wright said: “Our normal, happy well adjusted child took her own life, suddenly, without warning and without any mitigating circumstances . . . despite this the coroner has not seen fit to implicate this drug in her death.
“Annabel was let down by Harrogate hospital when they prescribed her a drug she did not need even though it could cause suicide. She was let down in life and has been let down in death by the authorities’ steadfast refusal to recognise the role isotretinoin played in her death.”
The MHRA launched an independent review into suspected psychiatric and sexual side effects of isotretinoin in November last year. It is expected to publish its findings this month.
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Owing to its potential severe side-effects, which can include sexual dysfunction and musculoskeletal disorders, isotretinoin is normally prescribed to people whose acne is rated a seven or above out of ten on the standardised scale used by dermatologists. Annabel’s acne was graded a three and within a month of taking the drug this had gone down to one.
Her family said they were told to look out for classic signs of depression but were not told about sudden suicidal impulses.
Roaccutane is made by the drugs company Roche. After Annabel’s death, the company said: “Millions of patients worldwide have taken Roaccutane but, like most medications, it can have side-effects. That is why we recommend it is prescribed very carefully, with particular consideration regarding any previous history of depression.”
