The dad of a 26-year-old who took his own life after taking a controversial acne drug has said new measures to strengthen its safe use are a “step in the right direction”.

Melvin Sillcock, who lives in Sittingbourne, has spent the last decade calling for Isotretinoin to be “completely” removed from the shelves.

Melvin’s son James started taking the drug, often prescribed under the brand name Roaccutane, at the age of 16 to help clear up a skin problem but stopped 18 months later.

While it helped to clear his teenage son's spots, Melvin said a "physical and mental deterioration" set in soon afterwards and he began suffering anxiety, fatigue and blurred vision.

James was found dead at his family home in Scoones Close, Bapchild, by his father on December 9, 2012.

A year later an inquest into James's death heard how he penned a 20-page letter to his parents in which he blamed his mental state on the drug – saying his life had been "perfect" but the drug had left his world "in tatters".

On October 31, new safety measures were introduced for Isotretinoin.

Now, for patients between 12 and 18, a second healthcare professional as well as a dermatologist must “independently assess the patient and determine whether Isotretinoin is the only appropriate effective treatment”.

This means that, before the drug is prescribed to anyone under 18, two independent healthcare professionals need to agree that the acne is severe and that it has not responded to adequate courses of standard therapy.

Another change is that there will be better information on potential risks, with patients receiving more details about what they could be.

Healthcare professionals will need to counsel patients and their families on the risk of psychiatric and sexual side effects, and potential sexual side effects will be listed.

Patients and their families will now need to have had sufficient time to consider the information and have the chance to ask questions before starting treatment.

Additionally, there will be “improved monitoring and assessment of mental health and sexual wellbeing”.

All patients will have in-person assessments of their mental and sexual health before starting treatment with the drug.

They will also be monitored for side effects, including mental health and sexual function side effects, at each follow up appointment.

Melvin said: “I’m fairly happy with what they’ve done. They have come a long way since James died 11 years ago. He had no help at all then.

“It looks like they’re taking this a bit more seriously now so I’m happy about that, and it’s good that they’re going to monitor the drug when people start taking it.

“With James, he had no monitoring. He’d see the specialist every now and again but they didn’t really monitor him or ask him how he was so that’s come a long way forward.

“What I’m unhappy with is that they’re still letting the drug be used.”

“They’re going in the right direction but they really need to develop a new drug and get rid of this one totally...”

He said taking the drug is “like Russian roulette” and that you may get away without any problems, but if you don’t, you cannot get it out of your system.

He explained: “It’s good that they’re going to talk to you now a lot more about the drug and you should be signing a consent form saying this drug might kill me – it really is that serious.

“A lot of people it doesn’t impact, but there’s an awful lot of people like James who sadly don’t. It’s not a drug to be taken lightly and you shouldn’t be able to take it before the age of 18.

“They can monitor you but if they find things wrong I don’t know how they’re going to do anything about it.

“They’re going in the right direction but they really need to develop a new drug and get rid of this one totally, because it’s got such serious side effects if you’re effected. It’s moving forward though which is good.”