Overall, "I saw no clear advantage demonstrated in efficacy," said Dr. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel determined that AstraZeneca's antipsychotic drug Seroquel has too many safety concerns to make it a first-line treatment against depression or anxiety disorders. Wednesday's decision, by a panel of psychiatric experts, follows a study released earlier this year that suggested that newer, second-generation antipsychotics such. Federal health officials have already approved the use of Seroquel (quetiapine) and drugs like it to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, in a separate 6-to-3 vote, the panelists recommended that the medication could be used as supplemental treatment for patients with depression who do not get symptom relief from other drugs, reported. "There were side effects, and I would expect unintended consequences associated with wide-scale use of the drug." The FDA is not mandated to follow its advisory panels' advice, although it usually does. The expert panel did not hold a similar vote for anxiety disorders.

Wayne Goodman, the panel's chairman and a psychiatric researcher at the U.S.