Guest guest Posted January 6, 2004 Report Share Posted January 6, 2004 Tue, 6 Jan 2004 10:49:11 -0500 WC Douglass Swiss-army drugs Daily Dose January 6, 2004 ************************************************************** Pharmaceutical " fishing " for funds and profits... Recently, you've heard me railing a lot about the pharmaceuticals industry's constant below-the-board cross marketing of prescription drugs for applications other than those these drugs were originally approved for. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy-duddy, but something about the drug company practice of trying to influence (translation: bribe) doctors into prescribing a medicine designed for, say, foot fungus to people suffering from insomnia just rubs my rhubarb the wrong way. But since a crazy loophole in the law allows MDs to prescribe ANY approved medication for the treatment of ANY malady under the sun, this is exactly the kind of thing that's happening all over the country, and drug companies are raking in the bucks because of it. However, drug makers are also feverishly attempting to shoehorn their existing drugs into new, untapped categories of formally approved usage - some of which stretch the limits of the imagination. For instance: One drug company with flagging sales (I won't mention any names, but a lot of its marquis drugs just came " off patent " ) recently attempted to get a medication designed to help chemotherapy patients avoid vomiting approved as the first in a whole new class of antidepressant drug! (Just what we need, huh?) If it hadn't flunked the trials, they'd likely be able to patent it all over again and make billions more dollars on it. That's enough to turn my stomach. Another major pharmaceuticals company may well be on its way to being able to have one of its tuberculosis drugs approved for the treatment of phobias! Apparently, a recent study (no doubt funded by totally independent, unbiased entities) revealed that the medication helped subjects overcome various irrational fears with far less therapy than is normally required. But I wonder: Would it work on those (like you and me) who have a fear of DRUGS? And how long it will be before the makers of a popular antidepressant for the elderly will attempt to have their drug certified as a treatment for arthritis? A recent study (again, impartially funded, to be sure) shows that patients treated with the medication reported fewer symptoms of the joint disease. Even if they can't have the drug officially approved, they'll no doubt spread the word among doctors. These are just a few more examples of the pharmaceutical industry " fishing " for new and profitable uses - approved or otherwise - for medications they've already invested the money and time into getting approved for one use or another. It's all just an exercise in shrewd cross marketing. And speaking of drugs and fishing... ************************************************************** To start receiving your own copy of the Daily Dose, visit: http://www.realhealthnews.com/dailydose/freecopy.html Or forward this e-mail to a friend so they can sign-up to receive their own copy of the Daily Dose. ************************************************************** For these fish, getting " hooked " has a whole new meaning... Imagine fishing on a nearby lake on a warm, sunny afternoon in the spring. As you cruise stealthily into a shallow cove in your flat-bottom boat, you spy them - dozens of fat bluegill sunfish finning lazily just below the surface. You cast gingerly, expecting to scatter at least a few of them as bait and bopper plop lightly onto the water's surface, but none flee. None rush to bite, either. In fact, none even twitch as you drift in among them. Looking closely, you notice that except for the subtle flexing of their gills and pectoral fins in liquid respiration, they seem fearless and serene, almost... Medicated. That's because you're fishing in lovely Lake Lewisville, the Dallas, Texas-area impoundment a recent Baylor University study found to be contaminated with, you guessed it: Prozac. More specifically, fluoxetine, the active ingredient in the antidepressant Prozac. The study showed that the reservoir's population of common sunfish had absorbed measurable (but not enough to be therapeutic, sorry fishermen) amounts of fluoxetine. How'd it get there? According to the study's authors, most likely through wastewater - specifically through the urine of those who take Prozac, or from people flushing those pills down the toilet. (Hey, we can hope, right?) This just goes to show you how little we really know about the long-term effects of patent medicines - on us and on the Earth itself. Those poor fish: Hooked, one way or another. Now, I wonder how long it'll be before Prozac's manufacturer, Eli Lilly and Co., starts cross-marketing it to fishermen as a can't-miss bait for bluegills. Not taking the mainstream's bait, William Campbell Douglass II, MD ************************************************************** Copyright ©1997-2003 by www.realhealthnews.com, L.L.C. The Daily Dose may not be posted on commercial sites without written permission. ************************************************************** Before you hit reply to send us a question or request, please visit here http://www.realhealthnews.com/questions.shtml ************************************************************** If you'd like to participate in the Dr. Douglass' Real Health Breakthroughs Forum, search past e-letters and products or you're a Dr. Douglass' Real Health Breakthroughs r and would like to search past articles, visit http://www.realhealthnews.com ************************************************************** To learn more about Dr. Douglass' Real Health Breakthroughs, call (203) 699-4420 or visit http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/RHB/WRHBD610/home.cfm ************************************************************** Hotjobs: Enter the " Signing Bonus " Sweepstakes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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