Lexapro Paradox

More trouble for the antidepressant drug industry, as federal prosecutors accuse Forest Laboratories, makers of Celexa and Lexapro, two popular antidepressants, of improperly attempting to sway pediatricians to prescribe the drugs to kids. All this on the heels of the FDA's approval for the use of Lexapro in treating depression in children.

According to recent reports, the US Justice Department accused Forest of wrongly pushing their product onto pediatricians with inducements like spa visits, fishing trips and tickets to sporting events and Broadway shows. Neither Celexa nor Lexapro had been approved for kids until Lexapro won the FDA's nod on Friday. The federal complaint also includes allegations of Forest pushing aside a study showing Celexa as inneffective for pediatric use, and having their sales staff promote another favorable study instead.

This shouldn't come as any surprise to regular readers of this blog. I've reported similar stories on GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of Paxil, another popular antidepressant, who may have hid evidence of suicide risk in their product. I've also reported on studies showing antidepressants to be no more effective than taking a sugar pill.

Why would the makers of these most widely sold drugs have to hide important data and woo doctors to push their products? Easy--it's big time money. Not your simple inordinate-bonuses-for-executives-during-tough-economic-times greed as we're seeing today. It's much, much bigger than that. We are talking long-term-hook-a-generation-on-useless-and-dangerous-drugs to "treat" a difficult, yet normal, human condition called depression. It's an outrage.

I'm going to step out on a limb and speak the truth here: The pharmaceutical industry, particularly the makers of antidepressant drugs, is amoral. The only factor important to this outfit is profiteering. I do not make these claims lightly. I am a strong believer in the capitalist system, and believe that economic markets help drive human progress. But I also believe that commerce should be attached to products and services that help people, not just opportunities to make money at any cost. So when companies exhibit a disregard for the betterment of their customer base, I think they should be considered criminal. In other words, I feel no sorrow for the Chinese businessmen sentenced to death for putting the toxic chemical, melamine, into milk products to pass the necessary protein requirements in their watered down product. Perhaps if the same punishment was held over the heads of greedy pharmaceutical execs, we'd see a lot less shenanigans going on in that industry.

Statins--Miracle or Myth

Seems like everybody today is on statins--13 million Americans to be exact. And only 12 million more worldwide. Hey, how can more Americans be on a drug than the rest of the world combined? Seems fishy doesn't it? Does to me, except for one fact: America is prime and ripe for marketing manipulation; and no drug has been more hyped than the statins. Can you say best selling drug of all time?

We look at the very interesting mathematics behind the marketing of statins on the latest episode of the Dr. Nick Show (Episode 7). In it we discuss NNT, the number needed to treat for one person to benefit from a drug. Lipitor, the most popular statin (see the commercial here), accounting for approximately $14 billion in sales annually, has an NNT of 100 in its clinical trials. That is, it takes 100 people taking the drug for one to benefit. In other words, 99 out of every hundred (99%) people taking Lipitor get no benefit from the drug. What? That's right, NO BENEFIT!

So what gives? I mean these drugs have been touted as simply miraculous. They are the answer to high cholesterol, that supposed villain responsible for many heart attacks (listen, I debunk this myth in my new book, The Six Keys to Optimal Health; please pick up a copy). Well, these latest findings sure put a dagger into that nonsense. And am I the only one frightened by the notion that "statins should be added to the water supply", as some researchers have suggested? Hell no.

If I've said it once I've said it a million times, nobody is going to care as much about your health as you do. Not your doctor, not the government, and not the pharmaceutical industry. Drug manufacturers will always try to portray their product in the best light. And doctors simply don't have time to scrutinize every drug that comes out, so they rely on drug reps to give them the skinny on the latest drugs. When drug reps tell doctors that their statins reduce heart attacks by 36%, doctors believe these numbers. Add to that a certain dogma that has its way of infecting all large institutions and well...I guess it takes the public to be on its own toes.

So there you have the truth. Listen to the latest episode of the Dr. Nick Show for more information on the fallacy of statin drug efficacy. And keep tuning into this blog for the latest in health news and information. I promise, you won't get this information from your medical doctor. No time. Sorry.