Drug did not lead to suicide
The FDA has concluded that Eli Lilly's newly approved antidepressant Cymbalta did not trigger the suicide of a woman who was taking part in a clinical trial.
The FDA has concluded that Eli Lilly's newly approved antidepressant Cymbalta did not trigger the suicide of a woman who was taking part in a clinical trial.
An FDA investigation found that Cymbalta could not be linked to the death of Traci Johnson, who hanged herself with a scarf at Lilly's Indianapolis drug-testing clinic.
Johnson, a 19-year-old former Indiana Bible College student, killed herself in February as she was participating in a study to see how high doses of the drug affected healthy volunteers.
A memo from the FDA gives the drugmaker permission to start selling Cymbalta. Lilly was told by the FDA that it had no further questions about the suicide. Lilly spokesman David Shaffer said: 'We were informed there would be no findings contrary to what Lilly had concluded about the suicide.' Lilly has said it found its drug was not to blame.
Johnson had stopped taking the drug and was being weaned from it when she killed herself. She took doses up to six times the recommended 60 mg daily dose for depressed patients. The drug-maker has said Johnson was healthy and not depressed.
Lilly later increased from four days to eight the weaning period in the drug trial.