Wyeth is at least the third pharmaceutical company to receive a subpoena from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management of the Inspector General regarding psychopharmacologic, or mind-altering, medications.

The Office of Personnel Management serves as the human resources department for the federal government and administers the federal employee health benefits program. That program, which includes a prescription medication plan, covers approximately 9 million federal employees, retirees and their dependents.

Madison-based Wyeth, which makes prescription drugs and consumer health products, said Friday that its Wyeth Pharmaceuticals unit received a subpoena earlier this week.

"Wyeth's going to fully cooperate with this request," company spokesman Lowell Weiner said.

Wyeth said in a press release that the Office of Personnel Management has asked the company to produce documents mainly related to how it marketed or promoted Effexor to physicians and pharmacists from Jan. 1, 1997 through Sept. 30, 2003. The documents requested include educational and training materials about Effexor, Wiener said.

"I really can't speculate about the request, what they're looking for," Wiener said. "It does not carry any implication that Wyeth is in violation of any laws or regulations for marketing practices."

Effexor, part of the popular class of depression drugs called SSRIs or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, generated $2.7 billion in sales for Wyeth last year.

Wyeth shares closed down 35 cents at $40.95 in trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange, but rose 5 cents in after-hours trading.

On Thursday, New York-based Forest Laboratories Inc. disclosed that it had received a subpoena from the Office of Personnel Management requesting documents related to Celexa. That drug is a prescription anti-depressant also in the SSRI class. The company did not give any details about the type of documents sought, and company officials did not immediately return telephone messages from The Associated Press Friday afternoon.

Last Friday, New Brunswick-based Johnson & Johnson said Janssen Pharmaceutica Products, one of the J&J companies that makes prescription medications, had received a subpoena from the same agency requesting documents related to its blockbuster anti-psychotic drug Risperdal, which had 2003 sales of $2.5 billion.

Risperdal, the most widely used drug in a new class of psychiatric medications called atypical anti-psychotics that cause fewer side effects than older drugs, was approved last month for a second use, treatment of bipolar mania, or manic-depressive disorder.

Mike Orenstein, a spokesman for the Office of Personnel Management, said Friday evening that he could not comment on any of the cases because they are active investigations.