Thursday, August 12, 2010

23 minutes of your time well-spent



The one thing I take away from this report is that under the New National Healthcare legislation, health insurance companies and the federal government are loathe to pay for the debilitating permanent side effects that drugs like Risperdal cause, so the psychiatrists had better find something else that doesn't cause so many adverse health problems. Or at least, that's what I take away from the current debate, litigation and proposed pharmaceutical guidelines.

The funny thing is that Big Pharma seems to be ready to leave psychiatry high and dry when it comes to new drugs. Perhaps pharma is tired of getting sued, although the video points out that drug settlements are negligible in the grand scheme of profits. Or they're embarrassed at being caught faking data as the video mentions. Or perhaps Pharma is simply tired of having its good name dragged through the mud. I don't know.

I just think it's sad that so many people have to be maimed or killed by psychiatric drugs before anyone else begins to take notice. My heart goes out to that poor guy in the wheel chair in the video. I would bet money that the last thing his shrink said to him as he walked out of the office for the last time was "You'll have to take those medications for the rest of your life. They help you so much."

6 comments:

  1. I've often thought that for example, AZ & BMS will come out with diabetes meds as planned, to cover their bases per the pre-existing data they had re: Seroquel and diabetes, and all of the antipsychotics with that side effect. Those 2 company are collaborating on diabetes drugs, maybe Lilly also.

    I also think they are all dumping psych meds due to generics being popular and insurance company refusing to add name brands to the formulary...then that leaves "real disease" market to tackle which will be oncology.

    They won't go broke that's for sure.

    Glad to see the blog here.

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  2. Another thing is that a great deal of research is subsidized by the federal government. The molecule, the new drug is discovered at a research university. It's up to the drug company to find practical, cost-efficient ways of manufacturing the new drug, as well as doing trial testing. In the last several years, the government has been pretty cash-strapped and the research funding simply isn't there. This could be another reason why there are no new psych drugs in the pipeline.

    Thanks for adding me to your following. The story of your daughter just tears at my heart.

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  3. So this is where scantily clad sheep chasers hide...lol

    There are over 300 psychotropic drugs in the pipeline even with the massive reduction in R&D by the industry. The newest big pharma emphasis is to purchase new drugs already far down the development road in smaller companies. This way they can reduce their financial and legal exposure when things go completely haywire.

    I happen to guess they are waiting for the new markets the DSM-V will create, and are milking the drugs they already have on lucrative patents. Then the evil bastards can pull another reinvention of the wheel with amazing new poisons/products that can fix your whatever in a jiffy....

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  4. The states, however, are running out of money to pay their drug bills. I saw somewhere that 30% of the Seroquel purchased is paid for by government money. That states are starting to be unable to provide for pharma's government-subsidized profits is a good thing.

    If you can't pay your money, you can't get your dope. And God forbid, if the shrinks had to ply their desperate, ugly trade at reduced rates or *gasp* FOR FREE.

    Sorry to sound like such a hater, but my experience has taught me that nothing good comes from coercive psychiatry.

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  6. Thanks for posting this newslink. I have also posted it today at my updated blog http://willbradyjourna2.blogspot.com, where I often write about psyche/health issues.

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