Thursday, June 17, 2004

Posters & Abstracts: New Research on Bipolar Disorder
From Medscape's coverage of the American Psychiatric Association 2004 Annual Meeting - "The appropriate administration of antidepressants in patients with bipolar disorder is a challenging clinical problem. Antidepressants can, even in the presence of the administration of an adequate dose of a mood stabilizer, induce mania and cycling. Since there are now several clinical alternatives to antidepressant use in patients with cycling mood, these questions are of great clinical relevance in this difficult-to-treat population. Three studies were presented at the American Psychiatric Association 2004 Annual Meeting that attempted to address these questions..." [Viewing Medscape resources requires registration, which is free].  
  

Medical Journals Weigh Plan for Full Drug-Trial Disclosure
June 15 New York Times story - "An organization of top medical journals is considering a proposal that would require drug makers to register clinical trials at their start in a public database in order for results, whether successful or not, to be later considered for publication, according to three people working with the group. Advertisement Pharmaceutical companies are not generally required now to disclose results of a trial or even whether one was conducted. Some academic researchers have long argued that fuller registries of drug trials are needed because companies, as well as medical journals and scientists, tend to spotlight only trials that show positive results. The plan, if adopted by the organization, the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, is likely to put pressure on pharmaceutical makers to disclose more about the trials they run. The group includes 12 major medical journals like The Journal of the American Medical Association, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet and The Annals of Internal Medicine." "nyt"