News: New psychiatric drugs in pipeline
PhRMA has released a report of more than 300 drugs in the pipeline for psychiatric medications. Many are in the initial stages. Some, such as Johnson and Johnson's . . .
Full Story | Topics: drug companies, eating disorders, pharmaceutical, research, Risperdal, schizophrenia | Comments (1)

Consider This: NAMI and pharma
. . .alas, a Faustian bargain
Full Story | Topics: conflicts-of-interest, NAMI, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: Seroquel settlement at $520 million

News: FDA says Pfizer study overdosed kids

News: Jury favors AstraZeneca in Seroquel trial
A jury decided AstraZeneca provided adequate warnings about side effects of Seroquel causing diabetes. The month-long trial in New Jersey has been carefully watched by 26,000 people with similar claims. The 7-1 ruling left unanswered whether the drug used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder contributed to the onset of diabetes. . .
Full Story | Topics: ethics, legal, pharmaceutical, Seroquel | Comments (0)

News: Move over Zyprexa, Seroquel, trial on Risperdal

News: Trial over Seroquel side effects continues

Consider This: A trial, and an ad, featuring Seroquel
. . .evidence vs. spin
Full Story | Topics: anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, legal, medication, pharmaceutical, psychiatry, schizophrenia, Seroquel | Comments (0)

News: Grassley widens pharma probe
Continuing his drive for transparency in medicine, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) is asking advocacy and professional associations to clarify how much funding comes from pharmaceutical companies. This is part of a larger set of questions about conflicts-of-interest, the independence of their respective organizations, and continuing medical education.
Full Story | Topics: pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: Lilly beats back Mississippi over Zyprexa

News: Conflicts-of-interest halt ADHD guidelines in Australia
Conflicts-of-interest in a panel writing guidelines for ADHD in Australia led the government to halt distribution of the recommendations according to the Australian press. Seven of the nine doctors on the panel received a gift of some form -- meals, international travel, hotels -- from drug companies.
Full Story | Topics: ADHD, pharmaceutical, reform | Comments (0)

Consider This: Drug companies disclose
. . .But is that enough?
Full Story | Topics: pharmaceutical, psychiatry, reform | Comments (0)

Did You Know: Prescription drug prices rose nearly 9 percent in 2009.
Read more in the New York Times about the increase in the cost of drugs based on analysis by Credit Suisse and IMS Health which tracks the pharmaceutical industry. This amounts to $21 billion more than expected and the hikes anticipate changes in negotiation over drug pricing should health reform succeed....
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News: Committee probes drug industry-education ties

News: Underused drug may be the safest for schizophrenia

News: Good news-bad news for AstraZeneca
Between celebrating the Canadian approval of Seroquel to treat major depression, then learning the the Netherlands denied approval for the same, AstraZeneca has had quite a ride. In the courts a similar see-saw is taking place. A judge dismissed a case in Del. charging diabetes was the result of Seroquel This is the third case dismissed, and the only potential jury trial. They have drawn considerable attention and new cases are scheduled in New Jersey and New York. Documents have...
Full Story | Topics: depression, legal, medication, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: Pfizer give away includes psychiatric meds
Medications treating psychiatric disorders are among those Pfizer will offer to people who have lost their jobs or their insurance during this economic downturn. Zoloft, Geodon and Chantix are on the list, along with drugs treating other conditions. According to a press release, eligibility requirements include having taken the medication for at least 3 months prior to unemployment since January 1, absence of insurance coverage and financial hardship. An application is available at a website and must be submitted between...
Full Story | Topics: medication, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: Restore independence to medicine says IOM
A blue-ribbon panel of the Institute of Medicine released "Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice" a stunning rebuke of how industry has crept into research, clinical practice, continuing education, professional guidelines, and government agencies. The report calls for an end to practices that have undermined confidence in medicine, saying disclosure is also needed to identify payments and gifts to all foundations, nonprofit advocacy groups, and disease specific organizations. Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr....
Full Story | Topics: education, pharmaceutical, psychiatry | Comments (0)

News: More hospitals announce independence
The medical school at Johns Hopkins University announced a two-stage policy of banning gifts to doctors and ending drug samples for patients. The announcement acknowledged "Industry influence may be subtle, and health care providers often are not aware of the extent to which their judgment may be influenced when they depend on industry to support educational activities or provide drug samples.even small gifts imply reciprocity and that in recent years." Johns Hopkins joins Harvard, which announced a similar policy for...
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News: NAMI under Grassley microscope
Bloomberg News reported yesterday that Sen. Charles Grassley expanded his inquiry about drug company influence and asked the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) about its funding. The Beltway nonprofit representing families with a mental illness has been the subject of previous articles about ties to pharmaceutical companies. The annual reports prominently list companies (not amounts). Disclosure is not the biggest issue it faces as much as the influence of these companies on its policies....
Full Story | Topics: advocacy, family, pharmaceutical | Comments (2)

News: Psychiatrists change meal policy
After a year of controversy, the American Psychiatric Association announced it will "phase out" the industry-sponsored events -- meals and banquets accompanying educational lectures or symposia -- that brought charges of conflicts-of-interest and federal investigations....
Full Story | Topics: pharmaceutical, psychiatry | Comments (0)

Consider This: Hidden costs of hidden research
. . .our health
Full Story | Topics: drug trials, pharmaceutical, research | Comments (0)

News: Consumers right to sue upheld
The Supreme Court upheld (6 to 3) a patient's right to sue drug companies in state courts. Wyeth v. Levine involved a woman who received an injection which resulted in gangrene and the loss of a limb and her career as a musician. Warnings for the procedure were insufficient. The decision has extensive consequences for label warnings and consumer protection. States have recently ruled in cases involving disclosure and labeling for antipsychotic drugs....
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News: Seroquel trial
Allegations that AstraZeneca failed to warn patients that its drug Seroquel contributed to weight gain and diabetes came to light yesterday when documents were opened as part of a lawsuit over the billion dollar anti-psychotic drug. Instructions to divert direct questions about side effects advised the sales force to "neutralize" concerns about this despite knowing it's own doctor pointed to "reasonable evidence" about impaired glucose regulation." Court documents also reveal off-label use, and the vetting of negative trials. The case...
Full Story | Topics: chronic illness, drug trials, legal, pharmaceutical, Seroquel | Comments (3)

News: Pfizer to announce gift
Pfizer announced it will disclose gifts to clinicians and researchers greater than $500 after July 1, 2009. The press release announcing Pfizer's position noted the company had worked with 8,000 investigators in 280 studies during 2008. Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Herb Kohl (D-Wi) are reintroducing a bill to require the disclosure of gifts greater than $100 in an effort to curb financial ties between industry and clinicians....
Full Story | Topics: pharmaceutical, reform | Comments (0)

News: FDA on list of high risk agencies
A GAO report put the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the list of "high risk" areas vulnerable to fraud, waste, mismanagement. Prepared for the 111th Congress, the report notes there are "significant challenges that compromise its ability to protect Americans from unsafe and ineffective products." The GAO calls for the agency to: "improve the data it uses to manage the foreign drug inspection program, conduct more inspections of foreign establishments, systematically prioritize and traced promotional materials for review, and...
Full Story | Topics: drug trials, FDA, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

From Our Readers: Bill Lichtenstein, The Infinite Mind, responds to MIWatch
Dear Editor, I am responding as executive producer of the public radio series The Infinite Mind to two issues you raised in your posting of November 25, 2008 regarding the $1.2 million in undisclosed speaking fees paid to the program's host, Dr. Fred Goodwin, by GlaxoSmithKline. First, I want to respond to your assertion that I "ignored ominous signs" about Goodwin's acceptance of the speaking fees. This is not true. In fact, the staff and I acted affirmatively and diligently...
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News: Lilly settles
Eli Lilly and the Department of Justice reached a series of settlements resulting from illegal marketing, defrauding the government, and making false claims related to Zyprexa. The company will pay more than $1.4 billion (including a criminal fine of $515 million) for a scheme that broadly affected patient health, government spending and the credibility of federal regulatory agencies. A five-year corporate integrity agreement specifying reporting, written standards, and tracking of information, was part of the settlement....
Full Story | Topics: legal, Medicaid, Medicare, pharmaceutical, Zyprexa | Comments (0)

Did You Know: Thorazine was originally intended for use as an anti-histamine.
To read more about the accidental discovery of this, and other drugs used in psychiatry, see Neuron....
Full Story | Topics: medication, pharmaceutical, research | Comments (0)

News: Reform medicine, say authors
iStock photo Stories about conflicts-of-interest in psychiatry are percolating regularly, and MIWatch readers will not be surprised by Dr. Marcia Angell's review of three books taking aim at doctors, regulatory agencies, academic medical centers and drug companies. "So many reforms would be necessary to restore integrity to clinical research and medical practice," writes the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, "that they cannot be summarized briefly." Angell has written extensively about these issues....
Full Story | Topics: pharmaceutical, psychiatry, reform | Comments (0)

Update: Biederman accepts limits
The New York Times reports Harvard's child psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman has agreed to accept limits on funding linked to pharma....
Full Story | Topics: pharmaceutical, psychiatry | Comments (0)

News: Harvard psychiatrist courted pharma
Documents in a class action law suit show an active courtship between psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman and Johnson and Johnson to fund a center at Massachusetts General Hospital to promote marketing goals. Discussions dating from 2002 address "deliverables" and positioning the company for child and adolescent pharmacology. Emails were posted on the Wall Street Journal. The documents are part of a class action law suit over pediatric use of Risperdal. Additional stories: Reuters, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Bloomberg News, The...
Full Story | Topics: children, drug trials, investigation, legal, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

Consider This: Goodwin under the bus
. . .and journalism ethics?
Full Story | Topics: Congress, investigation, pharmaceutical, press | Comments (3)

News: Lilly takes $1.4 billion charge for law suits
Five years after investigations into Eli Lilly's marketing of Zyprexa, the company announced settlement talks of $1.4 billion relating to "past U.S. marketing and promotional practices." Lilly previously agreed to settlements with individual plaintiffs and 33 states for charges of deceptive marketing leading to Medicaid expenses and life-threatening side effects. The "Medicaid fraud control units of more than 30 states are coordinating with federal prosecutors," reports the New York Times....
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News: Antipsychotic meds and heart disease
An NIMH study (n=1125) comparing antipsychotic medications and cardiac heart disease found the "risk for CHD differed significantly among the medications." Risk, marked by elevated cholesterol, was highest for those taking olanzapine (Zyprexa, Zydis) and quetiapine (Seroquel). A decreased risk was noted for those taking risperidone (Risperdal) and ziprasidone (Geodon). Cardiovascular disease is a contributing factor to the shorter life span of people diagnosed with schizophrenia....
Full Story | Topics: chronic illness, pharmaceutical, research, schizophrenia, Zyprexa | Comments (0)

News: NIH holds up Emory grant
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has frozen payments to Emory University as part of an investigation into conflicts of interest of Dr. Charles Nemeroff. Nemeroff, an expert on depression, stepped down last week as chairman of the psychiatry department. He is charged with failure to disclose $1.2 million he received from drug companies while engaged in research, a violation of NIH and Emory's own academic procedures. The Atlantic Journal Constitution broke the story after receiving a memo from...
Full Story | Topics: investigation, pharmaceutical, scandal | Comments (0)

News: Report issued on conflicts of interest
In response to allegations of conflicts of interest and ethical misconduct between 2006 and 2007, the Office of Inspector General has issued a report outlining how they were resolved by the National Institutes of Health....
Full Story | Topics: investigation, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: Eli Lilly settles $62 million case; more pending
Eli Lilly announced a $62 million settlement in 32 states for the marketing of its block buster drug Zyprexa. In the 12 years it has been on the market, the company says it has been prescribed 26 million times. Zyprexa is known to cause weight gain leading to diabetes, heart disease, both of which are associated with early death. Other law suits are still outstanding. Since 2005, according to SEC filings, costs associated with Zyprexa lawsuits, including legal fees, amount...
Full Story | Topics: chronic illness, courts, legal, pharmaceutical, suicide, Zyprexa | Comments (0)

News: Psychiatrist under investigation resigns
Dr. Charles Nemeroff, under investigation for violating federal regulations to guarantee unbiased research while receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health, resigned as chair of department of psychiatry at Emory University. The resignation follows a New York Times story, and conversation in the blogs, about $2.8 million in fees he has received from different pharmaceutical companies. Although Emory had advised him to keep his consulting fees under $10,000, and Nemeroff presumably agreed, he did not. The university was reminded...
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News: Lilly agrees to disclose
Zyprexa maker Eli Lilly has agreed to public disclosure of fees it pays physicians who endorse or educate about their products. Lilly is the first pharmaceutical to announce it would disclose even if the Physicians Payments Sunshine Act (H.R. 5605) did not become law. According to a company statement: the public will have access to an Internet database listing its payments to physicians. Lilly will launch this registry as early as the second half of 2009. When first launched, its...
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News: Waxman questions pharma influence on FDA
Rep. Henry Waxman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal), chair of the House oversight committee, asked FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to explain how priorities were established which seemed to have tipped from protecting consumers to protecting drug companies. He cites employees for whom the agency has become a revolving door to pharma, asserts the agency protects drug makers instead of the consumers, and asks for clarification about distribution of journal articles and preemptions for medical devices. Waxman's concerns about preemptions...
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News: Waxman questions pharma influence on FDA
Rep. Henry Waxman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Cal), chair of the House oversight committee, asked FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to explain how priorities were established which seemed to have tipped from protecting consumers to protecting drug companies. He cites employees for whom the agency has become a revolving door to pharma, asserts the agency protects drug makers instead of the consumers, and asks for clarification about distribution of journal articles and preemptions for medical devices. Waxman's concerns about preemptions...
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News: FDA lashes Ranbaxy about generic drugs
The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) sent warnings to Ranbaxy, a generic drug company based in India, partially restricting imports of some drugs while it was highly critical of the company's sloppy quality control for others. Redactions in the letters make it impossible to know whether the problems cited apply to the anti-anxiety and anti-depressants Ranbaxy makes. While the FDA was coming down on Ranbaxy, Rep. John Dingell, chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, released a statement asking...
Full Story | Topics: anxiety disorders, depression, FDA, investigation, medication, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: FDA lashes Ranbaxy about generic drugs
The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) sent warnings to Ranbaxy, a generic drug company based in India, partially restricting imports of some drugs while it was highly critical of the company's sloppy quality control for others. Redactions in the letters make it impossible to know whether the problems cited apply to the anti-anxiety and anti-depressants Ranbaxy makes. While the FDA was coming down on Ranbaxy, Rep. John Dingell, chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, released a statement asking...
Full Story | Topics: anxiety disorders, depression, FDA, investigation, medication, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: New drugs more costly, more side effects, not better
The newer classification of drugs (Zyprexa, Risperdal, Geodone) commonly prescribed for schizophrenia, as well as bipolar disorders and behavioral management for children and teenagers have been found to be no more effective than the older drugs, according to an article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Studies of adults have led to similar findings which could challenge the record profits of drug companies that have recently obtained additional applications for treating children. Bloomberg.com reports that generics are already denting...
Full Story | Topics: drug trials, medication, pharmaceutical, research, Zyprexa | Comments (0)

News: New drugs more costly, more side effects, not better
The newer classification of drugs (Zyprexa, Risperdal, Geodone) commonly prescribed for schizophrenia, as well as bipolar disorders and behavioral management for children and teenagers have been found to be no more effective than the older drugs, according to an article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Studies of adults have led to similar findings which could challenge the record profits of drug companies that have recently obtained additional applications for treating children. Bloomberg.com reports that generics are already denting...
Full Story | Topics: drug trials, medication, pharmaceutical, research, Zyprexa | Comments (0)

News: Zyprexa documents unsealed
The judge in last year's law suit over Eli Lilly's drug Zyprexa ordered the documents unsealed in what he termed a class-action law suit. According to the New York Times, Judge Jack B. Weinstein weighed Lilly's rights to privacy against the public's right to know how the drug was marketed and approved. A New York Times reporter was reprimanded last year after writing about company decisions based on documents that eventually were circulated widely on the internet. Weinstein's actions followed...
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Book Reviews: "Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation," Charles Barber
by Alison Bateman-House* Charles Barber's latest book, Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation (Pantheon Books), is a passionate, multi-pronged critique of the state of psychiatry in the United States. Barber takes as his starting point his fourteen years working with the mentally ill homeless in New York City. In positions ranging from a counselor to a senior social services administrator, he worked on the streets, in shelters, and in supportive residential programs with clients who were dealing with...
Full Story | Topics: depression, FDA, medication, pharmaceutical, women | Comments (0)

News: Drugs in pipeline
PhRMA, the pharmaceutical marketing and research trade association, announced a list of drugs in varying stages of development for treating psychiatric disorders. Although the announcement specifies 301 drugs, the number of new agents is actually less. Many of the drugs, including Zyprexa, Concerta, Zoloft, Seroquel, are already available but the clinical studies and applications are pending for new uses. The 32-page report is available from PhRMA....
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News: Viagra for women?
A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) indicates Viagra may ease sexual dysfunction, a side effect for women taking SSRI anti-depressants. The study was conducted over three years, and employed numerous outcome measures including interviews, blood tests, and rating scales. The 8-week placebo-controlled clinical trial (N=98) was financed by Pfizer, according to the federal clinical trial registry. Of the six collaborators, including the lead author Dr. George Nurnberg, only one did not receive outside consulting...
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Consider This: Lunch is okay, but pencils are not

Pharma wriggles
Full Story | Topics: education, ethics, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: Conflicts of interest pinpointed again
The relationship between psychiatry and pharma is getting renewed attention as a result of Sen. Charles Grassley's ongoing investigation. The probe began in June focusing on three pediatric psychiatrists whose incomes had been greatly supplanted by a multitude of consulting relationships. An article in Saturday's New York Times focused on "Dr. Alan F. Schatzberg of Stanford, whose $4.8 million stock holdings in a drug development company raised the senator’s concern." Schatzberg is president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. On Friday,...
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Track Legislation: H.R. 5605
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) introduced the Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2008 on March 12, 2008: “To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for transparency in the relationship between physicians and manufacturers of drugs, devices, or medical supplies for which payment is made under Medicare, Medicaid, or SCHIP.”
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Track Legislation: S. 2029
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced the Physician Payments Sunshine Act of 2007 on September 5, 2007: “To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to provide for transparency in the relationship between physicians and manufacturers of drugs, devices, or medical supplies for which payment is made under Medicare, Medicaid, or SCHIP.”
Full Story | Topics: Congress, hospitals, investigation, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

Consider This: Drug to stop smoking
Patients can be burned by side effects
Full Story | Topics: addiction, pharmaceutical, research | Comments (1)

News: Agreements to delay generics
According to a report in Reuters, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating the pharmaceutical company Shire for possible agreements delaying the generic marketing of Adderall XR, a drug used for attention deficit disorder. Last week the FTC released a report about 33 different agreements in which generic drug manufacturers agreed to delay marketing drugs coming off patent. The availability of generics is estimated to reduce the cost of drugs by as much as 90 percent and cuts into the...
Full Story | Topics: ADHD, legal, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: Hearings assail drug marketing
How pharmaceutical companies market drugs continues to concern lawmakers on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Yesterday Reps. John Dingell and Bart Stupak (both of Mich.) announced additional hearings will follow up the one held in early May when they peppered spokespersons from Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, and Merck/Schering-Plough about practices they considered deceptive and misleading in the promotion of Lipitor, Procrit and Vytorin. Industry reps believed their ads met standards set by their trade association PhRMA, and...
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Consider This: When disclosure isn't enough
Pharma, the APA, and the media
Full Story | Topics: education, ethics, medication, pharmaceutical | Comments (0)

News: Funding The Infinite Mind
Slate.com kicked off a controversy when it posted a story challenging the credibility of a segment about Prozac aired on The Infinite Mind, noting that neither the panelists nor the host disclosed a connection to Eli Lilly. Bill Lichtenstein, producer of the award-winning show shot back that they turned to the best experts to answer a question about "links between antidepressant medications and out-of-control behavior." The controversy is entering a new phase with NPR weighing in about the show it...
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News: Avoiding conflicts of interest
A two-part series from Psychiatryonline discusses how the pharmaceutical industry targets continuing medical education programs. The first article discusses categories for $2.4 billion spent in 2006 for continuing education activities, including advertising and convention exhibits. Critics of this practice say, "these educational programs, especially those created by for-profit CME providers, are thinly veiled product promotion." The second explains how the American Psychiatric Association responds to avoid industry funding of theirs....
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News: Alasks settles Zyprexa case
Eli Lilly has agreed to a $15 million settlement with Alaska over the drug Zyprexa, used a drug to treat schizohprenia and bipolar disorder. The settlement ended a jury trial which began March 6 in Anchorage Superior Court, in which Alaska asked for $270 million for the drug used in its Medicaid program. Reuters reports that Conn. brought a similar law suit on March 11. The company has paid out more than $1.2 billion to settle 30,000 individual law suits....
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News: Zyprexa off-label
Off-label use of Zyprexa to treat disruptive children or address pain was aired in an Anchorage courtroom last week. A previously undisclosed 2003 memo from John C. Lechleiter, who will become CEO in April, said “to seize the opportunity to expand our work with Zyprexa” by using the door it had opened with pediatricians about another medication. The company says it was only trying to respond to physician interest. Alaska is suing Eli Lilly to recoup Medicaid costs for treating...
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News: Zyprexa trial in Alaska
Alaska is the first of nine states to sue Eli Lilly, manufacturer of Zyprexa, in a case that has wide ranging implications. Allegations that the company hid information about adverse side effects, such as weight gain leading to diabetes and cardiac complications, have already led to individual settlements of $1 billion. The Alaska case opens a different door. It is the first to have a jury trial, and asks the company to be liable for state Medicaid expenses for people...
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Consider This: More on pharma influence
More on pharma: tracking prescribing habits of doctors, and the FDA.
Full Story | Topics: courts, FDA, pharmaceutical, policy | Comments (0)

Consider This: Pharma influence grows
Pharms spends more on lobbying while we spend more on drugs.
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News: Update: Drug companies
The Congressional Quarterly reports that new information is being sought to clarify whether GlaxoSmithKline had data about suicide risks for its anti-depressant Paxil as early as 1989. In May 2006 it alerted health professionals about the risk compared to placebos. Seroquel extension sought In an attempt to maintain high profits on its blockbuster drug Seroquel, AstraZeneca is asking to extend patent protection in the US and the European Union. It is also trying to Teva, a generic giant Teva from...
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News: Zyprexa settlement rumored
Pharma giant Eli Lilly, maker of Zyprexa, is said to be in conversation with the federal government to pay $1 billion to settle charges over its promotional activities, reports the New York Times. Zyprexa is the company's block buster drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and last year accounted for $4.8 billion in sales, about one-quarter of Lilly’s revenue. In the past two years, the company has been hit by more than 25,000 claims for failure to warn about serious...
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News: FDA's effectiveness questioned
A House subcommittee voted to subpoena former FDA officials to answer questions about fraudulent clinical data used to approve Ketek, an antibiotic with life-threatening complications including liver failure. The subpoena came at the end of a day when witness after witness testified that the FDA has fallen short of its oversight responsibilities to regulate and monitor food, drugs and medical devices. An outdated system of information technology, and budgetary constraints were among the factors enumerated by witnesses before the Subcommittee...
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News: FDA changes review policy
The New York Times reports an unannounced shift in FDA policy acknowledging that many drugs carry risks for psychiatric side effects. A questionnaire designed to measure suicidal thoughts, and developed by Columbia University's researcher Kelly L. Posner, led to the agency's reassessment....
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News: Foster kids over-medicated
Foster kids in Oregon are prescribed psychiatric medicines nearly four times more often than other children according to a three-part investigative report by The Oregonian. The pattern can be traced to a system with incentives paying foster families twice as much ($600 per month) for taking kids with "special needs" and one that failed to monitor. Foster parents alone can decide to place the children on psychotropic medications, no independent tracking mechanism exists, and only one nurse reviews prescriptions for...
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News: Doctors repping for pharma
What is the cost of paying doctors to speak on behalf of a specific medicine? Psychiatrist Daniel Carlat discusses how he was recruited, and why he stopped lecturing about the antidepressant Effexor XR for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Carlat tells this story in "Dr. Drug Rep," published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine....
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News: Chantix warnings from FDA
People taking Chantix, a drug to stop smoking, have reported suicidal thoughts, and mood changes including erratic and aggressive behavior, leading the FDA to issue a warning to patients and health care providers. Pfizer is working with the FDA to supply additional pertinent information. Nearly two-thirds of all people with a mental illness smoke -- far greater than the rest of the population -- and targeted campaigns have addressed this health hazard in hospital and community settings. Complaints also came...
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News: Tobacco industry creates "self-medicating" rationale
An outstanding article in Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access exposes the tobacco industry's aggressive tactics to market smoking to people with schizophrenia. This includes the creation of the "self-medicating hypothesis" and in 1997 the formation of an R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company subsidiary, Targacept, a biopharmaceutical company. The authors say the industry's success came from "suppressing research that does not support their position, and disseminating their data and interpretations to the lay press and policy makers" including family advocacy groups. They...
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Commentary: Depression, advertising and pharma
by Julie Donahue
If pharmaceuticals educate consumers, instead of targeting them for specific drugs, can they still meet the bottom line? These are among the questions Professor Julie Donahue raises about depression and advertising for antidepressants.


Full Story | Topics: depression, FDA, pharmaceutical, stigma | Comments (0)

Consider This: Generic antidepressant not equal to patented product
A generic antidepressant has different action and side effects.


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News: Haldol relabeled
The FDA issued an alert that the intravenous administration of haloperidol, which is often used off-label to control agitation, can lead to sudden cardiac death. Johnson and Johnson supplied information to the agency from a post-marketing analysis requested by Italy's Drug Agency. The pharmaceutical company has updated its label with detailed warnings....
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News: Schizophrenia drug in pipeline
Enthusiasm greeted Eli Lilly's announcement that a drug to treat schizophrenia showed promising results - similar to Zyprexa but without the weight gain - in its initial stage of testing. This is considered the first major breakthrough in 50 years because it targets a different system of receptors which are triggered by an amino acid called glutamate, not the dopamine receptors. Work on glutamate receptors leading to this medicine emerged during the 1980s when scientists noted a street drug, PCP,...
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News: Advertising for drugs soars
Pharmaceutical houses spent $1.5 billion to advertise and promote ten psychiatric medicines in 2005 according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Prescriptions for psychotropic drugs grew faster than for other medicines, and overall direct-to-consumer advertising rose 330 percent in ten years. The impact of advertising on costs was not confirmed, although cost becomes important for people enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare. The Los Angeles Times reports about 20 percent of seniors enrolled in Medicare skipped their...
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News: FDA says Geodon ads mislead
In a harshly worded letter dated July 16, the FDA told Pfizer to stop false advertising for injectable Geodon, an antipsychotic medicine used for agitation. The FDA said the giant pharmaceutical had exaggerated benefits and omitted risks of the injectable drug. The letter was posted on the FDA website August 13, but agency concerns go back at least five years. In September 2002, the FDA also warned Pfizer about misleading advertising that minimized the risk of this drug....
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News: Counterfeit drugs seized in the UK
Anxiety Insights, May 26, 2007 The United Kingdom has issued a drug alert about a counterfeit Zyprexa (10 mg), containing only 60 percent of the active ingredients of olanzapine. British authorities also issued a warning for, Plavix, prescribed for thinning blood....
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News: Sales of drugs for mental illnesses rise sharply
Medication for mental illnesses increased 150% in seven years, to $20 billion by 2004....
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News: Eli Lilly teams with states to monitor Zyprexa
The New York Times reports that in 20 states, Medicaid and Eli Lilly monitor how doctors are prescribing Zyprexa. Lilly pays for the service if states do not require doctors to seek permission for prescribing the medication. The company claims it helps keep costs down, helps patients receive proper dosages. Others say it is a marketing ploy involving rebates and preferred lists. Zyprexa, the most frequently prescribed drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, can cost up to $300 a month....
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News: AstraZeneca faces law suits similar to Eli Lilly’s
Bloomberg News reports that British pharmaceutical, AstraZeneca, maker of blockbuster Seroquel, faces lawsuits from 10,000 people alleging that the medicine caused weight gain leading to the risk of diabetes. Competitor Eli Lilly has been entangled in a similar charge over its drug Zyprexa. Last year Seroquel passed Zyprexa as the top selling atypical antipsychotic on the market, earning $3.4 billion, up from $66 million in 1998. As an explanation for the dramatic increase in market share, patients cited “aggressive marketing”...
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