The withdrawal of a controversial painkiller has dramatically reduced the number of suicides related to its use, it has been claimed.

According to Arthritis Care, Co-proxamol, a powerful pain relief drug often given to arthritis sufferers was gradually phased out between 2005 and 2007, after concerns its use led to a number of suicides.

The charity claimed that its gradual withdrawal resulted in 350 fewer suicides and accidental deaths in England and Wales during the period.

Professor Keith Hawton and colleagues from the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford's Department of Psychiatry carried out the research into the drug which proposed a link between suicide rates and the drug.

The study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research and was published in the British Medical Journal.

Earlier this year, a survey carried out by Professor Clive Seale from the Centre for Health Sciences at Queen Mary University of London showed that the majority of GPs in the UK were against assisted suicide.