An international government watchdog organization has asked British health officials to immediately ban the acne medication Roaccutane because of its link to patient suicides. A spokesperson for the International Roaccutane Action Group (IRAG) told members of the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) last week that the drug, sold under the name Accutane in the United States, increases the risk of depression by affecting a user's central nervous system. Roche Holding AG, maker of Roaccutane, insists the medication is safe. According to MCA statistics, though, five people in Britain have committed suicide and ten others have attempted to take their lives while using the drug.

Accutane made headlines earlier this year after investigators discovered that Charles Bishop, the 15-year-old pilot who committed suicide by flying a stolen Cessna into a Tampa high rise, may have taken the medication shortly before his death. Bishop's mother recently filed a $70 million wrongful death lawsuit against Roche.