Psychiatric Associates of Atlanta Mental Health News |
Thursday, June 30, 2005
FDA Eyes Pyschiatric Risks of ADHD Drugs Published: June 28, 2005 2:06 PM By Jennifer Corbett Dooren Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Food and Drug Administration said it intends to make labeling changes for a certain class of drugs used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder over concerns about psychiatric events associated with the drugs. The FDA said it would make labeling changes to Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Concerta and other methylphenidate products describing psychiatric events "such as visual hallucinations, suicidal ideation, psychotic behavior, as well as aggression or violent behavior." The drugs are used to treat ADHD in adults and children. Other drugs in the category include Novartis AG's (NVS) Ritalin, which is also available as a generic. Saturday, June 25, 2005
Mark Davis: Scientologists call psychiatry a fraud? What nerve! 12:01 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 22, 2005 I have been hooked up to a polygraph machine precisely once, in 1977. I was a 19-year-old clerk at the Washington law firm of Sidley & Austin, where files had been lifted in a Scientologist plot to smear one of the firm's main clients, the American Medical Association. Founder L. Ron Hubbard was a science-fiction writer. Authorities questioned everyone with access to the firm's files. Satisfied that I was not the mole, I was unhooked and left to learn and wonder about Scientology's obsessive gripe about psychiatric medication.
A Couch Tom Cruise Won't Jump On Actor Lambastes Psychiatry on 'Today' By Richard Leiby Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 25, 2005; Page C01 Okay, should we address him as Dr. Tom Cruise from now on? Or will the Rev. Dr. Cruise suffice? Whatever: Anybody who watched the actor's performance on NBC's "Today" show yesterday witnessed an unsettling transformation. The movie star, who has long embraced Scientology, launched a full-bore assault on the psychiatric profession, sticking to a script that his church (founded, mind you, by a hack science fiction writer) has been promoting for decades. Saturday, June 11, 2005
To those who are bipolar, it isn't a disease – it's a gift By Jeremiah Horrigan Times Herald-Record jhorrigan@th-record.com When he was 18, Sascha DuBrul found he could do amazing things on very little or no sleep. He'd ride for hours on his bike at top speed, spring off it and do countless push-ups, all the while plotting in his head the course his life would take for the next 40 years. He felt alert, alive as never before. Ideas swarmed through his head like bees, cross-pollinating new ideas exponentially.
Lilly and Plaintiffs' Attorneys Enter Into an Agreement in Principle to Settle Majority of Zyprexa® Product Liability Litigation June 9, 2005 INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, June 9, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Eli Lilly and Company announced today that it has entered into an agreement in principle with plaintiffs' attorneys involved in Zyprexa liability litigation to settle a majority of the claims against Lilly relating to the medication. "While we believe the claims are without merit, we took this difficult step because we believe it is in the best interest of the company, the patients who depend on this medication, and their doctors," said Sidney Taurel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Eli Lilly and Company. "We wanted to reduce significant uncertainties involved in litigating such complex cases. Our decision to resolve these claims does not change the fact that Zyprexa has and will continue to improve the lives of millions of patients around the world who are suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This settlement will enable Lilly to focus first and foremost on addressing unmet medical needs through research, educational programs and partnerships with doctors and patients."
New sleeping aid Lunesta assures long-term help, less hangover By Melissa Healy / Los Angeles Times U.S. insomniacs will need only to turn on late-night television in the next several months to learn there's a new kid on the block in the $2 billion market for sleep drugs. In late 2004, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new prescription sleep aid -- a hypnotic, in medical parlance -- called eszopiclone. But while it quickly became the talk of the town among sleep-medicine specialists, the drug's manufacturer still is planning a $60 million campaign to take the news directly to the sleepless and baggy-eyed in advertisements wedged between reruns, classic movies and political gabfests. On late-night TV, that'll buy a lot of advertising, and the drug, named Lunesta, is expected to be one of this year's most heavily marketed medications.
Sleep Anxiety Leads Many to the Medicine Cabinet By BONNIE ROTHMAN MORRIS Published: June 5, 2005 IT'S hard to write this sentence: There is something women don't do as well as men. Sleep. So what's a woman to do? If you are swayed by advertising, the easy answer is to take a pill. Americans spend more than $2 billion on prescription sleep medicines. Since women are twice as likely as men to have difficulty falling and staying asleep, according to research at the National Institutes of Health, they are likely to be spending much of that money. |
