Monday, January 03, 2005

FDA approves genetics-based lab test that can tailor drug doses Boston Globe story reprinted at PsycPORT - "The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first genetics-based lab test to help physicians personalize their patients' drug doses. The approval hastens a move away from a one-size-fits-all drug dose, offering help to patients with wildly varying responses to such popular drugs as antidepressants and antipsychotics. The AmpliChip Cytochrome P450 genotyping test could reduce toxic side effects experienced by people who process prescription drugs slower than normal. At the same time, the test could personalize doses for hypermetabolizers, who often feel no benefit from standard drug doses. The test is made by Roche Molecular Systems Inc. An agency official expects that more genetic test kits are on the way as the FDA pushes drug companies to embrace cutting-edge science to improve drug safety."  
  

FDA to review drug company documents  Story in the British Medical Journal - "The US Food and Drug Administration has agreed to review confidential drug company documents that went missing during a controversial product liability suit more than 10 years ago. The documents appear to suggest a link between the drug fluoxetine (Prozac), made by Eli Lilly, and suicide attempts and violence. The missing documents, which were sent to the BMJ by an anonymous source last month, include reviews and memos indicating that Eli Lilly officials were aware in the 1980s that fluoxetine had troubling side effects and sought to minimise their likely negative effect on prescribing..." See also Journal hands over Prozac papers (BBC), Journal tells FDA Lilly knew of Prozac risk and Lilly unaware of any missing documents (both fromReuters, reprinted at Yahoo) and  
  

Finding the key to battling stigma (UK) Article at the BBC by Scottish student Anna Murray, who "is travelling to the Czech Republic to compare the experiences of young people suffering from mental health problems. Ms. Murray won the trip after writing about the taboo of mental illness and her own battle with severe depression..."  
  

State gets reprieve in federal mental health money cut (Washington) Seattle Post Intelligencer story - "A planned $41 million reduction in federal mental health funding for Washington has been delayed by six months to give the Legislature time to decide how to replace the money. The money represents what the state typically has left over after providing treatment for Medicaid patients. Until now, that money was used to pay for mental health services for people who make too much money for Medicaid but not enough to afford mental health insurance..."  
  

Care teams lauded as pioneer in mental health care (Alabama) Mobile Register story on Comprehensive Support Services teams, "each of which includes a psychiatrist, a primary care physician, a psychologist/behavioral specialist, a dentist, two psychological assistants, a psychological associate and a habilitation treatment coordinator -- were put into place in regions where the state had closed institutions for the mentally retarded and most of the residents moved into the community. When Alabama decided to implement the teams, Governing magazine lauded the state as a 'pioneer in the field of mental health care.' Three teams are in place in Decatur, Wetumpka and Daphne, according to information from the Alabama Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation."  
  

Gaps in mental health treatment lead to safety concerns (Washington) Story in The Olympian - "After Brian Pennington allegedly killed three people and himself over Christmas weekend, members of the victims' families and his own asked how authorities could have allowed a severely mentally ill man with a criminal record to go without treatment and supervision. It happens regularly, say corrections officers and officials with Thurston County's publicly funded mental health agencies. Advocates for mentally ill people say something like this will happen again, unless the system changes."  
  

West Virginia Faces Mental Health Care Crisis LA Times story - "West Virginia hospitals spend more on patients suffering from psychosis than on any other diagnosis and almost doubled their mental health spending over four years. The increased spending, shortage of beds at state-run psychiatric hospitals and the fifth-highest suicide rate in the country indicate a mental health crisis in West Virginia, according to an investigation by the Sunday Gazette-Mail of Charleston. Mental health care problems are difficult to solve because of the stigma surrounding mental illness, said Eugenie Taylor, acting commissioner at the state Bureau of Health and Health Facilities." [Viewing Los Angeles Times stories requires registration, which is free].