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The Psychotic Use of Anti-Psychotics
September 5, 2008
Big Pharma has illegally targeted the elderly and children with the off label marketing of its powerful anti-psychotic schizophrenia drugs, raking in billions in mostly taxpayer-funded fraud while killing the elderly and damaging children for life. This travesty is beyond barbaric.
The atypical anti-psychotic schizophrenia drugs were approved for limited use by the FDA for the treatment of adult schizophrenia. The drugs were given original approval based on the scantiest of data, as many participants dropped out of the trials due to the horrendous side effects of the medications. Once the FDA approved the drugs for use in adult schizophrenics, it was like letting an evil Genie out of the bottle.
Big Pharma master marketers quickly (and illegally – as reported in the New York Times) promoted these very expensive drugs for specific off label uses that would be covered by Medicaid and Medicare, targeting disadvantaged children and the elderly in nursing homes – meaning that American taxpayers would foot the bill for this massive fraud (4-5 billion a year).
These drugs are now in widespread use in nursing homes just to calm down irritated and anxious patients. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows that even a single dose of these antipsychotic medication doubles the risk of a serious adverse event leading to hospitalization and/or death. Another recent study shows that they cause double the risk for stroke in patients with dementia1.
A new report presented at the 21st Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology2 in Barcelona, Spain overviews the tremendous health risks and damage caused by the off label use of these drugs in children to control moderate behavioral issues and ADHD (illegal promoted off label uses). There is no science at all to show how these drugs react in the developing nervous system over the course of a lifetime. The data that is available predicts a very grim future the children subjected to this experiment.
It has been very clear for a long time, based on all the lawsuits settled in favor of the patients, that these drugs cause obesity and diabetes. That fact alone should ban their use in children, with the exception of true schizophrenics who actually need them (less than 1% of sales).
This new study also explains that the children who take these develop abnormal physical movements, meaning the motion control center in the brain (cerebellum) is being damaged by the medications. These medications also change the electrical regulation of the heart, altering the QTc interval and setting the stage for arrhythmias and stroke (a finding that has been clearly established in the nursing home population). There is no study longer than six months on this issue in children – what will happen as they get older? (Answer – obvious heart disease.)
Big Pharma is getting away with this because these drugs suppress symptoms, like using a credit card to pay for something you can't afford. It feels good for a while until major pain sets in down the road. The FDA does nothing. Congress does nothing. Patients are being killed and injured. Taxpayers are footing the bill – and a massive bill it is.
The atypical anti-psychotic schizophrenia drugs were approved for limited use by the FDA for the treatment of adult schizophrenia. The drugs were given original approval based on the scantiest of data, as many participants dropped out of the trials due to the horrendous side effects of the medications. Once the FDA approved the drugs for use in adult schizophrenics, it was like letting an evil Genie out of the bottle.
Big Pharma master marketers quickly (and illegally – as reported in the New York Times) promoted these very expensive drugs for specific off label uses that would be covered by Medicaid and Medicare, targeting disadvantaged children and the elderly in nursing homes – meaning that American taxpayers would foot the bill for this massive fraud (4-5 billion a year).
These drugs are now in widespread use in nursing homes just to calm down irritated and anxious patients. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine shows that even a single dose of these antipsychotic medication doubles the risk of a serious adverse event leading to hospitalization and/or death. Another recent study shows that they cause double the risk for stroke in patients with dementia1.
A new report presented at the 21st Congress of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology2 in Barcelona, Spain overviews the tremendous health risks and damage caused by the off label use of these drugs in children to control moderate behavioral issues and ADHD (illegal promoted off label uses). There is no science at all to show how these drugs react in the developing nervous system over the course of a lifetime. The data that is available predicts a very grim future the children subjected to this experiment.
It has been very clear for a long time, based on all the lawsuits settled in favor of the patients, that these drugs cause obesity and diabetes. That fact alone should ban their use in children, with the exception of true schizophrenics who actually need them (less than 1% of sales).
This new study also explains that the children who take these develop abnormal physical movements, meaning the motion control center in the brain (cerebellum) is being damaged by the medications. These medications also change the electrical regulation of the heart, altering the QTc interval and setting the stage for arrhythmias and stroke (a finding that has been clearly established in the nursing home population). There is no study longer than six months on this issue in children – what will happen as they get older? (Answer – obvious heart disease.)
Big Pharma is getting away with this because these drugs suppress symptoms, like using a credit card to pay for something you can't afford. It feels good for a while until major pain sets in down the road. The FDA does nothing. Congress does nothing. Patients are being killed and injured. Taxpayers are footing the bill – and a massive bill it is.
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