WASHINGTON, May 21 (UPI) — Mounting evidence suggests the anti-malaria drug Lariam — prescribed to Peace
Corps volunteers, travelers and U.S. soldiers — has triggered mental problems so severe that in a small percentage
of users it has led to the ultimate side effect: suicide.
Lariam — also known as mefloquine — is a product of Hoffmann-La Roche, a giant Swiss pharmaceutical company
with U.S. headquarters in Nutley, N.J. Lariam has been prescribed to more than 22 million people worldwide since
1985. It was cleared for use in the United States in 1989.
Some health experts charge that neither patients nor doctors in the United States are being adequately warned
about the risk of suicide from taking Lariam, which is prescribed by U.S. doctors 1,000 times every day.