U.S. children three times more medicated

United Press International
U.S. children are about three times more likely to be prescribed psychotropic medications such as antidepressants than children in Europe, researchers said.
The study, published in the journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, said the differences may be due to regulatory practices and cultural beliefs about medications and emotional and [...]

Risks Found for Youths in New Antipsychotics

New York Times
By BENEDICT CAREY
A new government study published Monday has found that the medicines most often prescribed for schizophrenia in children and adolescents are no more effective than older, less expensive drugs and are more likely to cause some harmful side effects. The standards for treating the disorder should be changed to include some [...]

New Mexico Sues Maker of Risperdal

Albuquerque Journal
By Scott Sandlin
… According to the lawsuit:
Janssen got FDA approval to market Risperdal oral tablets for the treatment of schizophrenia in 1993 and for variations to treat bipolar disorder in 2003. But the drug has shown a propensity for its users to gain weight, have movement disorders and other health problems, including diabetes.
Since its [...]

Antipsychotics & Kids: States Are Cracking Down

Pharmalot
By Ed Silverman
Over the past few years, atypical antipsychotics have been eating up a growing portion of state Medicaid budgets, from 4.5 percent in Arizona to 13.3 percent in Massachusetts. Several states, in fact, have sued one or more drugmakers for allegedly withholding side effect info or improperly promoting their meds, prompting Medicaid overpayments. However, [...]

Florida Legislator Questions Antipsychotic Spending

Pharmalot
By Ed Silverman
Earlier this summer, the state’s Agency for Health Care Administration reviewed new guidelines on paying for antipsychotic drugs for children. This came after newspaper stories detailed that the number of kids in the program prescribed the meds had nearly doubled between 2000 and 2006. however, the most common primary diagnosis was ADHD, an [...]

Half of nursing home residents wrongly drugged

The Daily Telegraph
London, England
By Kate Devlin – Medical Correspondent
Experts who looked at 22 nursing homes found 51 per cent of residents were being inappropriately given drugs, including anti-psychotics, antidepressants and painkillers.
More than 420,000 people live in care and nursing homes in Britain, of which around 405,000 are elderly.
Previous estimates have suggested that 100,000 residents, suffering [...]

AstraZeneca’s Seroquel on FDA warning list

The News Journal
By ANDREW EDER
AstraZeneca’s antipsychotic drug Seroquel is one of 20 medications being investigated for potential safety problems, federal regulators said Friday.

The list of drugs posted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under the requirements of a new law offered little information except for the potential risks the agency was examining.
Seroquel was being [...]

Judge to Unseal Documents on the Eli Lilly Drug Zyprexa

New York Times
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
A federal judge in Brooklyn decided on Friday to unseal confidential materials about Eli Lilly’s top-selling antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, citing “the health of hundreds of thousands of people” and “fundamental questions” about the way drugs are approved for new uses.
The decision by Judge Jack B. Weinstein of Federal District Court [...]

Idaho presses Lilly over Antipsychotic Drug Zyprexa

Idaho Statesman
By Colleen LaMay
Idaho has joined a parade of states suing Eli Lilly over the pharmaceutical company’s top-selling drug, an antipsychotic medicine called Zyprexa.
Idaho says Zyprexa is a costly drug that has been improperly marketed, sickening Idaho patients and taking a financial bite from the state’s Medicaid health insurance program for low-income and disabled people.
The [...]