Antipsychotics are, at times, cruel drugs. Some cause shaking, salivation,
restlessness, infertility, stiff ness, agitation, and frail bones; others cause
obesity, somnolence, and increase the risk of heart attack, diabetes, and
stroke. Antidepressants also have side-effects, although theirs are typically
less dramatic: sickness, sexual dysfunction, a feeling of being numbed, or
losing one’s personality, and acutely increased risk of suicide. …
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca folks were worried about Study 15. As you know, internal
emails released as court documents show that higher-ups praised a company
doctor’s efforts to put a “positive spin” on “this cursed study.” Company
officials discussed their “cherry-picking” of data; one said, “Thus far, we have
buried Trials 15, 31, 56 and are now considering COSTAR” (which also produced
unfavorable results). In public, however, AstraZeneca publicized a less-rigorous
study showing that patients lost weight
on Seroquel. …
The parasite infects the brain by forming a cyst within its cells and produces
an enzyme called tyrosine hydroxylase, which is needed to make dopamine.
Dopamine’s role in mood, sociability, attention, motivation and sleep patterns
are well documented and schizophrenia has long been associated with dopamine,
which is the target of all schizophrenia drugs on the market. …
The skirmish over document disclosure in Orlando is part of a hornet’s nest of
litigation against AstraZeneca, a British company with U.S. headquarters in
Wilmington, Del. More than 15,000 patients have filed over 9,000 personal injury
lawsuits. About 40 percent of these claims have been consolidated for pretrial
motions in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. …
methylphenidate (Ritalin), which is commonly prescribed to treat
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can cause physical changes in
neurons in reward regions of mouse brains-in some cases, these effects
overlapped with those of cocaine. …
Eli Lilly insists that it has not marketed Zyprexa off-label and that it has
accurately represented the drug’s side effects. But some medical researchers who
have studied the atypical antipsychotics say that, in the final tally, the
drugs, which have already been linked to some deaths, may eventually be
responsible for tens of thousands of cases of diabetes and other potentially
fatal diseases. And despite their early promise for treating schizophrenia, the
drugs have not even performed any better than the crude and imprecise earlier
medications that preceded them. …
People with mental illness deserve much better treatment than
they have received to date. Although lobotomies and straitjackets are no longer
used, modern medications leave a lot to be desired. …
his electroshock doctor, Bernard M.
Coelho, MD, at Mercy Hospital is often
full with about 10 patients
who Ray believes are also scheduled for
electroshock. Giving multiple
electroshocks on the same morning is a common
practice, sometimes
called a “Shock Mill,” and can be very lucrative. …
The issue at stake is whether insurance companies can claim even though they
were not the targets of Lilly’s fraud: …
As part of the settlement
with the Justice Department, Lilly agreed to plead guilty to one
misdemeanor violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act related to the
off-label promotion of Zyprexa between 1999 and 2001. The guilty plea
says Lilly promoted the drug in elderly people as treatment for
dementia, including Alzheimer’s, although the drug isn’t approved for
such use.
…