Atypical medications can be deadly

Atypical drugs have been blamed for the deaths of thousands of mental health patients and elderly persons and are being introduced to patients in clever way by sales representatives bent on maximizing profits for their client drug companies.

What is an "atypical" drug? Another word might be "novel" or "newly designed" drug, but the term is applied primarily to a class of drug used to treat persons with mental problems that end up suffering from "novel" or unusual side effects.

For example, the drug giant Eli Lilly produces a drug called Zyprexa.

Even though dementia patients using Ziprexa and other drugs in this class are more likely to die, marketing and delivery of the medications continue apace. One in four nursing home residents takes Ziprexa or similar medications. Some estimates place the number of persons killed by atypicals at 15,000 nursing home residents a year.

Read more in the St. Petersburg Times article

Related Articles:
Lilly strengthens Zyprexa warnings. Report
U.S. lawmakers want new nursing home regulations. Report
CA fines nine hospitals for putting patients at risk. Report

Sleeping pills or placebo?

Sleeping pills don't do much for sleep.

Americans swear by sleep medications and spend about $4.5 billion a year for them. Rozerem, the latest sleep pill advertised on TV, costs $3.50 each, and studies show that Rozerem truly does help people sleep more--about 11 to 19 minutes more. A scientific study by the National Institutes of Health found only mediocre improvement in sleep by people using Ambien, Lunesta, and other popular sleep medications.

Ironically, people who take sleep meds report that they help a lot. They are generally pleased with the results.

How can this be? Check out an interesting report in the New York Times. Here's a direct link to this story.

FDA: No More Cold Meds for Young Children

An FDA advisory panel voted Friday against the use of cough and cold medications for children under the age of 6.

The decision was made after the panel found no evidence that the drugs work and "plenty" of evidence that they can cause serious harm. It was a 13-9 vote, with some panelists objecting to a move that would deprive parents of medicine they rely on to treat their children with colds and coughs. About $30 million a year is spent on these drugs.

The story updated through October 20 is available online from the Washington Post.

Are we overdosing our children?

Cough and cold medicines prescribed for children under the age of six are not only ineffective but also carry the risk of death or injury.

Some of these medications such as Dimetapp and Pediacare have never been tested in children; data from studies of adults were simply extrapolated to correspond with the height and weight of children.

Dr. Robert S. Daun, a pediatrician with the University of Chicago Medical Center, called such medicines “a bewildering mess of complicated ingredients and combinations..."

"When a treatment is ineffective, its risks--if not zero--always will exceed its benefits," said Dr. Michael Shannon, a pediatrician with Children's Hospital in Boston and a professor at Harvard Medical School."

About 39 active ingredients are used in 800 cough and cold medicines for children. Several studies in recent years have consistently shown that the medicines have no effect on the symptoms of colds or coughs and a growing number of reports have found that they can be dangerous.

The FDA is waiting to consider a petition by a group of pediatricians to ban or limit the sale of over-the-counter cough and cold medications for children. Should be news on this tomorrow.

For perspectives on this issue, go to the report by The New York Times
And here's the Associated Press story.

Check with these sources as the news develops over the next couple of days.

Paying for a Hormone's Cancer Risk

When enough people are upset by the negative results of taking a certain drug, court action can result.

Three women in Nevada have succeeded in their claim that taking Premarin hormone replacement drugs manufactured by the drug giant Wyeth resulted in breast cancer. The company was required to pay a total of $134.5 million, and each of the three women received $7.5 million as their share.

It seems that Wyeth, one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, is being lambasted from all corners and not just for its Premarin HRT (hormone replacement therapy) medications. There's more...

• The company is still smarting from disaster with FenPhen, a prescription drug for weight loss that has been linked to valvular heart disease and resulting death from patients taking the drug.
  
• Effexor, a popular prescription-only antidepressant, has side effects that can result in even more depression, especially among young users.
  
• A contraceptive implant, Norplant, is still available in other countries but has been banned in the US because of severe side effects leading to death.
  

The most interesting run-in with the law by Wyeth occurred in 2001 when the company, then known as American Home Products, handed over $2.5 million to the US government on charges that that it had been dealing with drug traffickers in the country of Colombia.

Sales for Premarin and Effexor top one billion dollars per year, according to the company. Among well-known drugs and other health-related products from Weyeth are the following:

Advil
Caltrate
Centrum
ChapStick
Dimetapp
Effexor
Inderal
Norplant
Premarin
Preparation H
Robitussin

Biochemicals and Pharmaceuticals

Note: I'm learning little by little about the world of pharmaceuticals. I'm not a scientist. I'm just curious.

I spent $40 yesterday (exactly) for two little plastic containers of 30 pills in each. I'm not sick, just getting old. My doctor says he wants me to be healthy until I'm 120, so he writes me a couple of prescriptions. How does he know what I need and how I will react? How important are drugs to us these days? Why do pharmaceutical companies keep getting richer and richer? Or are they?

And what in the world are biochemicals?

I've just learned that biochemicals are a bit like vineyards, and pharmaceuticals are something like raisins.

Pharmaceuticals are drugs that doctors and other health providers prescribe or that we buy off the shelf to help us feel better or get over our various ailments. Swallow a "raisin" and feel better. Biochemicals are naturally occurring chemicals and agents that are engineered and adapted to make new products and may end up in the drugs (pharmaceuticals) that we take.

That's it for now, folks!

50 Top Biochemical Companies

Top 50 Biotechnology Companies and links to their websites
Source: List as posted by PharmaLive; Links were found independently

Amgen Inc.
Genentech Inc.
Biogen Idec Inc.
Serono SA
Genzyme Corp.
MedImmune Inc.
Cephalon Inc.
Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Gilead Sciences Inc.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Elan Corp.
Human Genome Sciences Inc.
Celgene Corp.
PDL BioPharma Inc.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Actelion Ltd.
Medarex Inc.
Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc.
CV Therapeutics Inc.
OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc.
NPS Pharmaceuticals Inc.
CSL Ltd.
Neurocrine Biosciences Inc.
ZymoGenetics Inc.
ImClone Systems Inc.
Icos Corp.
InterMune Inc.
Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc.
QLT Inc.
MGI Pharma Inc.
Cambridge Antibody Technology Group Plc.
Genmab AS
GPC Biotech AG
CuraGen Corp.
Cell Therapeutics Inc.
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
Encysive Pharmaceuticals
Acambis Plc.
Myriad Genetics Inc.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Vernalis Plc.
Tanox Inc.
Dyax Corp.
Maxygen Inc.
Crucell NV
Innogenetics NV
Xoma Ltd.