NEWPORT MP Paul Flynn yesterday called on the government to ban doctors from prescribing a drug to patients, claiming that it has led to suicide.

He told Health Minister Miss Melanie Johnson that the drug, Seroxat, "has turned mild stress into suicidal despair, and in many cases a passing anxiety has become a life-long addiction, leading to self harm, suicide and even murder."

Mr Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, speaking in the Commons where he is protected by Parliamentary privilege, criticised the manufacture of the drug by GlaxoSmithKline.

He said the company "had been exposed as duplicitous, profit-driven and irresponsible over the 14 years that the drug has been available.

"It prizes its profits above the health of its customers," he added. The minister said the government was awaiting a report from an expert working group of the Committee on Safety of Medicines which was examining the safety of Seroxat and related anti-depressants.

She said the report was expected in the summer, adding: "We need to be clear that patients who benefit from Seroxat should not be frightened into stopping their medication."

Mr Flynn said one constituent had written saying she had had a bad reaction to her doctor.

Urging the withdrawal of the drug, Mr Flynn said: "That might cause difficulties for those who have been on it a long time because of withdrawal symptoms but for new patients it should be withdrawn."

He criticised the "relaxed leisurely review" of the drug over the past two years and said there should be an urgent re-examination.