Drug warning won't affect Yates case, lawyer says

The AP reported this weekend that Wyeth, the maker of an antidepressant Andrea Yates took before she drowned her five kids in 2001 recently added "homicidal ideation" to the list of possible side effects — but Yates' attorney said that won't affect her capital murder retrial. No cases have been reported in which the drug, Effexor, caused homicidal thoughts, and Wyeth didn't notify doctors about the possible effect because the company said it is rare. "We believe there is no causal link between Effexor and homicidality," Wyeth spokeswoman Gwen Fisher said. "In our minds, we've taken every precaution."

Yates took Effexor after she first attempted to kill herself in 1999 and after she stayed at a mental hospital in 2001. Weeks before she killed her children, her daily Effexor dose was increased to twice the recommended maximum; though he said he thinks Wyeth should have publicized the potential side effect more, Yates' lawyer, George Parnham, said it has no effect on his case. "Obviously this is a severely mentally ill individual who was on a plethora of psychiatric meds," Parnham told the AP. "There's no question mental illness killed those children."

Effexor is Wyeth's biggest seller: About 19.2 million prescriptions were filled in the U.S. in 2005, and Wyeth made $3.46 billion from sales of the drug last year.