Clozapine revealed as Britain's deadliest prescription drug

We can all be careless at times with medication. We often mix meds with alcohol when we know we shouldn’t and a lot of us have been known to hoard bottles and pill packets in the medical drawer way past their expiration date ‘just in case’. However, when you are prescribed a drug, you tend to believe that it is safe. Though this is, of course, true for the vast majority of drugs prescribed on the NHS, there is one that stands out from the rest when it comes to the risk involved.

Clozapine has been approved for the treatment of schizophrenia since 1990. It has been dubbed the UK’s ‘most dangerous’ prescription medication given that it has been linked to thousands of deaths in this time. The Times carried out an analysis that showed the dangers behind this medication.

Clozapine can cause toxicity

According to GOV.UK:

Clozapine and other antipsychotic medicines are used for indications related to psychosis, including schizophrenic disorders and some forms of bipolar disorder.

However, consumers of this medication must be carefully monitored. Indeed, a spokesperson for Living with Schizophrenia says Clozapine has a ‘complex side-effect profile which requires extremely diligent management’.

The drug was first used in the 1970s but was withdrawn across the globe after research showed it could massively knock the immune system. Trials then showed it could be effective in schizophrenic patients who did not respond to other medication. It was therefore reintegrated into the healthcare system and has been available to patients in the UK since, for whom at least two other treatments have been ineffective.

A family’s experience of Clozapine death

The drug can cause toxicity in the body, along with weight gain, heart issues and respiratory illnesses. William Northcott had been taking Clozapine for years before he died of a heart attack at a mental health facility in Devon. His sister Kate was left with a huge feeling of frustration:

William spent two years with arrows all over him pointing at clozapine toxicity symptoms but nothing was done.

His death is being looked into, but an interim death certificate states that he likely died of 'fatal arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) most likely due to prescription drug toxicity’.

Regardless of the risks, health professionals continue to prescribe Clozapine to around 37,000 Brits a year because it is effective in treating mental health disorders such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Read more:

⋙ These 3 medications cause the highest deaths in the UK, and you probably have them at home

⋙ Driving under the influence: This prescription medication could cost you your driving privilege

⋙ Mixing these medications with coffee can have disastrous consequences for your health

Sources used:

The Sun: DANGER PILLS Britain’s most dangerous prescription drug linked to 7,000 deaths since being approved

GOV.UK: Clozapine and other antipsychotics: monitoring blood concentrations for toxicity