The US Food and Drug Administration is evaluating data for a potential link between some serious mood disorders affecting patients who take Singulair manufactured by Merk & Co, Inc. and this drug. The action started as a response to some reports received from doctors and patients.

Singulair is a leukotriene receptor antagonist with mechanism of action similar to Accolate (zafirlukast). It has been marked in the United States for 10 years. Now millions of patients are using it as a remedy for stuffy nose, sneezing and other allergy symptoms as well as asthma.

The FDA is taking into consideration a growing list of medications for analyses, including antidepressants and treatments for attention deficit disorder and epilepsy.

Usually, Singulair is prescribed in the treatment of asthma, allergic rhinitis or for prevention of exercise-induced asthma.

Some reports show that it has been associated with suicidal thinking or suicide itself.

But the announcement made by the FDA doesn’t imply forbidding this drug from prescriptions. Information was updated and now it includes alerts for adverse reactions such as tremor, depression, suicidal thinking, and anxiousness.

“I think the fact that the FDA announced it is specifically looking at this means it got more case reports of suicide than would have been expected," J. Douglas Bremner, a psychiatrist and director of Emory University's clinical neuroscience research unit said, quoted by the New Jersey Business News. “So I think it is probably significant,” he added.

The FDA initiated a program that can be accessed online for all those who want to report any incidence of the adverse reactions mentioned above. Also, it advised patients that they shouldn’t stop taking Singulair before talking to their doctor.