Monday, October 04, 2004

Proposed Drug Guidelines Get Negative APA Review
Psychiatric News story - "Draft model guidelines for Medicare Part D drug formularies do not adequately address clinical heterogeneity in patients with mental illness, APA says. APA added its voice to a wide-ranging chorus of dissatisfaction at a public hearing last month on the proposed framework of drug categories and classes to be covered by the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit that starts in 2006. The framework, said APA and others, is wholly inadequate to address the diverse clinical needs of a heterogeneous patient population, such as those with mental illness..."  
  

Depression drug data leave many questions
Philadelphia Enquirer story reprinted at PsycPORT - "Sixteen years after the approval of Prozac - the first of a new generation of antidepressants - doctors who treat kids still have many questions: Which drug should they use? How long should a child take it? Do the medicines really cause suicides and, if so, who is most at risk? The list goes on and on. No matter how the Food and Drug Administration responds to a recommendation to issue stronger warnings about the drugs, many of those questions likely will remain unanswered for years. The crux of the problem, doctors say, is that pharmaceutical companies fund studies aimed at FDA approval for specific uses for their drugs, not at giving doctors the facts they need..." See also Mysteries of the mind, a Washington Post story reprinted at the same site - "many of those who have been involved in the effort to get the word out are undoubtedly wondering why it took so long. Psychiatric researchers first reported that the antidepressants known as SSRIs could spark suicidal thoughts and actions in young patients back in 1990, just three years after the first major SSRI, Prozac, hit the market. Since then, there have been thousands of scientific papers published on these medications. You'd think the psychiatric research community would have noticed that the drugs can be dangerous for some patients -- particularly kids -- and may not be terribly effective for most. The fact is, many academic psychiatrists did notice, and some spoke up, but practically nobody listened."  
  

Consumer Reports Readers Rate Mental-Health Care for Depression and Anxiety
Kansas City InfoZine - "In one of the largest surveys of its kind, 3,079 Consumer Reports (CR) readers rate the mental-health care they received for depression and anxiety. The survey results, plus CR's interviews with patients and experts, offer a compelling snapshot of how people fared given the mental-health care choices they made." See also Antidepressants and adolescent suicide, which is available at the Consumer Reports web site during October.