Daytona Beach News Journal
By M.C. MOEWE
Staff Writer
A panel named this month to discuss changing state guidelines on paying for antipsychotic drugs for children will meet for the first time June 25.
At stake is the future treatment of more than 18,000 children in Florida currently receiving atypical antipsychotics medication for conditions ranging from ADHD [...]
Entries from June 2008
June 28, 2008
Panel to review Medicaid guidelines for antipsychotic drugs
June 27, 2008
Florida Reporters Win Award for Antipsychotic Stories
Florida Society of Newspaper Editors
First Place
Robert Farley & Kris Hundley
St. Petersburg Times
“Drugs to Market”
Tackling a subject of national importance, the Times raised questions about the way the Food and Drug Administration licenses drugs. The pieces chronicled financial conflicts involving doctors and firms that cast doubt on the impartiality of the clinical trials that are [...]
June 26, 2008
State may limit paying for some kids drugs
Miami Herald
The state’s healthcare agency is considering limiting payments for strong drugs prescribed to young children for illnesses such as autism and bipolar disorder.
BY GARY FINEOUT
TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s massive healthcare agency may cut back on paying for powerful drugs now prescribed for young children, although a final decision could be weeks or months away.
Since late [...]
June 24, 2008
Doctors Say Medication Is Overused in Dementia
New York Times
By LAURIE TARKAN
Ramona Lamascola with her mother, Theresa Lamascola.
Ramona Lamascola thought she was losing her 88-year-old mother to dementia. Instead, she was losing her to overmedication.
Last fall her mother, Theresa Lamascola, of the Bronx, suffering from anxiety and confusion, was put on the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. When she had trouble walking, [...]
June 20, 2008
Inappropriate prescribing ‘cutting lives short’
The Guardian
Sarah Boseley, health editor
The use of so-called “chemical cosh” antipsychotic drugs to subdue people with dementia will be curbed as part of a government strategy to help the growing numbers of people with the condition.
In an interview with the Guardian the social care minister, Ivan Lewis, made it clear he was unhappy with the [...]
June 20, 2008
Florida Seroquel Case – AstraZeneca CEO Deposed
The News Journal
Astra CEO in London trial will take stand
AstraZeneca faces 8,440 cases over Seroquel risks
By Andrew Eder
The chief executive of AstraZeneca is set to be deposed today regarding allegations the company hid the risk that its anti-psychotic drug Seroquel could cause diabetes in users.
David Brennan, who led AstraZeneca’s U.S. unit in Fairfax before being [...]
June 18, 2008
Doctors’ prescriptions need dose of disclosure
Chicago Sun Times
Editorial
When your doctor gives you a prescription, you expect full disclosure and a little straight talk.
Full disclosure on the research behind the drug.
Straight talk from your doctor on why he is recommending this drug over another.
But far too often, that full disclosure and straight talk are deeply compromised by money and perks from [...]
June 17, 2008
FDA Issues Warning on Some Antipsychotic Drugs
Washington Post
By Shankar Vedantam
The Food and Drug Administration yesterday warned doctors that elderly patients with dementia who are being treated with an older class of antipsychotic drugs appear to be at increased risk of dying.
The agency ordered a “black box” warning placed on the labels of drugs such as haldol and thorazine, which are [...]
June 15, 2008
Powerful anti-psychotic drugs designed for adults are being used to treat children
The Independent
By Brian Brady and Nina Lakhani
The number of powerful psychiatric drugs prescribed to England’s children has risen by more than half in four years, government figures have revealed.
GPs in England are handing out prescriptions for anti-psychotic drugs for children as young as seven at the rate of 250 a day, according to figures [...]
June 14, 2008
Legal Drugs Kill Far More Than Illegal, Florida Says
New York Times
By DAMIEN CAVE
MIAMI — From “Scarface” to “Miami Vice,” Florida’s drug problem has been portrayed as the story of a single narcotic: cocaine. But for Floridians, prescription drugs are increasingly a far more lethal habit.
An analysis of autopsies in 2007 released this week by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission found that the rate [...]
