Information about the tragic death of Dr W - Camden Superdrug Inquest blames cholesterol pills for psychic disturbances
GOVERNMENT guidelines on the safety of “superdrugs” taken by three millions Britons have been changed after an investigation into the death of a Hampstead private schoolmaster.
Statins – cholesterol-lowering drugs prescribed to those at risk of heart disease – will carry new leaflets warning of side-effects like those blamed in an inquest into the death of University College School housemaster Dr A W, 52, last April.
Dr W was killed by a train at North Wembley station, holding a despairing note which read: “Just burn my wretched body without ceremony.”
the coroner’s jury rejected a suicide verdict and instead recorded that he suffered “psychic disturbances, a known side-effect of the drug simvastatin”.
Within weeks of being prescribed simvastatins for his higher than average cholesterol, diabetic Dr W, a hugely popular and active chemistry teacher at the school for 27 years, suffered sleep loss, hallucinations, and blackouts.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which monitors drug safety, issued a new drug safety update last Thursday.