Maker Admits Hiding Its Risks of Serotonergic Antipsychotic Risperdol

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atracyphd2

Thu, 30 Sep 2004 22:49:21 EDT

Maker Admits Hiding Its Risks of Serotonergic Antipsychotic

Risperdol

 

Sorry about the delay, this has been sitting in my outbox waiting to

go out

to you for some time:

 

" On Wednesday, drug maker Janssen Pharmaceutica wrote a two-page letter to

doctors, warning them that the company, in promotional material, had

''minimized

potentially FATAL risks, and made misleading claims'' that the

medication was

more safe in treating mental illness than other drugs in the same

category. "

 

I added the emphasis to the word FATAL risks. Keep in mind that what

they are

admitting to is premeditated murder. They knew this drug could kill

and did

not disclose that fact thus allowing people to die when they unknowingly

ingested it.

 

One of the most unconscionable crimes in this country today is the mass

drugging of children in foster care - those we are supposedly

protecting by " saving

them from a life of abuse " while we drug them with these extremely

dangerous

and damaging serotonergic drugs. Now we learn that yet another of the drug

makers is being forced to admit that they too hid the risks of the far

too widely

used Risperdol.

 

First they give them antidepressants because they are naturally depressed

when taken out of their homes and away from their families. And

because these

antidepressants are so similar in action to LSD these children begin to go

psychotic. Then they add the new atypical antipsychotics like

Risperdol or Zyprexa

or Geodon or Abilify. We read the impact of that from the article below:

 

" One of the clinic's most high-profile clients, identified in court

papers as

M.W., won a Florida Supreme Court ruling that child welfare authorities

cannot lock up foster kids in psychiatric hospitals without a hearing.

M.W. had

developed lactating breasts after forced him to take Risperdal, court

records

show.

 

" One of Salisbury's clients, a 15-year-old girl, begged her to prevent the

child welfare agency from forcing her to take Risperdal, Salisbury

said. The

girl had become obese and suffered from dramatic mood swings,

alternating between

feeling agitated or very depressed.

 

''I always object to my foster child clients being placed on Risperdal . .

..,'' Salisbury said. ``However, DCF continues to place children in

their care on

the drug, even though DCF knows full well the horrible side effects

foster children continue to suffer on this drug.''

 

And who funds this atrocity? We do with our tax dollars. I just read

an article stating that an astonishing 70% of the Zyprexa sold this

past year was paid for by our tax dollars!

 

Several years ago after reading about foster children available for

adoption I phoned the agency, Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange. After

a couple of years of watching our local paper who weekly featured two

children a week I had not found even one that was not being

" medicated " for some type of emotional or mental disorder. What I

wanted this company to tell me is if they had ANY children available

for adoption who were not on drugs because I did not want to

begin a relationship with a child by having to take them through drug

withdrawal.

The girl who answered was surprised at my question but quickly

responded, " Isn't it terrible! We have a doctor here who is drugging

all of these little children and there is nothing we can do about it. "

 

Well, WHO can do something about it? We as a society are supposed to

be protecting these children and instead we are destroying their only

chance at life.

There are times I wonder if they would not be safer left in the homes

we have taken them out of. Perhaps they would have a better chance.

Clearly something MUST be done to stop this atrocity!

 

Ann Blake Tracy, Ph.D.,

Executive Director, International Coalition For Drug Awareness

Author: Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare

& audio tape on safe withdrawal: " Help! I Can't Get

Off My Antidepressant! "

 

 

Order Number: 800-280-0730

Website: www.drugawareness.org

 

 

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/

 

Maker of drug admits hiding its risks

 

The maker of Risperdal, an antipsychotic drug commonly used on

children in state care, said it downplayed fatal risks despite years

of complaints.

 

» Warning letter

» Letter from Janssen Pharmaceutica

» Previous articles | Use of drugs to control kids worries

specialists

» School inquiry: Too many kids put on drugs

 

Posted on Sat, Jul. 24, 2004

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 • Warning letter

 • Letter from Janssen Pharmaceutica

 • Previous articles | Use of drugs to control kids worries

specialists

 • School inquiry: Too many kids put on drugs

 • Reform aims to curb drugging of foster kids

 • Report decried giving drugs to kids

 • Foster workers can't OK kids' pills

 • Psychiatric medications made 'everything a blur' for one girl

 

 

 

CHILD WELFARE

 

Maker of drug admits hiding its risks

 

BY CAROL MARBIN MILLER

 

cmarbin

 

 

The maker of a billion-dollar antipsychotic medication has acknowledged

misleading doctors and other healthcare providers about the safety of

its product,

minimizing potentially deadly side effects.

 

The drug, Risperdal, has been commonly prescribed to Florida children in

state care, including to a handful of boys who developed lactating

breasts after

taking it.

 

On Wednesday, drug maker Janssen Pharmaceutica wrote a two-page letter

to doctors, warning them that the company, in promotional material,

had ''minimized potentially fatal risks, and made misleading claims''

that the medication was more safe in treating mental illness than

other drugs in the same category.

 

Most physicians received the letter Friday.

 

Risperdal is the leading drug used to combat schizophrenia and other

types of psychotic disorders, earning Janssen about $2.1 billion in

annual sales. The drug was first marketed about eight years ago, and

is prescribed to more than 10 million people worldwide.

 

The ''important correction of drug information'' came shortly after

federal regulators had accused Janssen of ''disseminating''

advertising and marketing material that was ``false or misleading.''

 

A letter from Janssen to doctors, dated Nov. 10, 2003, claimed

Risperdal did not increase the risk of diabetes among consumers

compared with other similar drugs, called neuroleptics or antipsychotics.

 

But an April 2004 letter from the U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services to Janssen asserts quite the contrary. Research indicated

''an increased risk of hyperglycemia-related adverse effects and

diabetes with Risperdal,'' the letter stated.

 

A TROUBLED HISTORY

 

In 2001, The Herald published a series of stories about the common use

of Risperdal among children in state care. Child-welfare advocates

said the drug routinely was being used by foster care providers as a

''chemical restraint'' on children whose unruly behavior was a

frustration to caretakers.

 

''I had clients who were displaying severe side effects, and I tried

to alert the Department of Children & Families both as to the local

problem and the growing national concern about a range of psychotropic

medications, Risperdal and other antipsychotics in particular,'' said

Coral Springs attorney and children's advocate Andrea Moore.

 

''They listened, but they did not hear me,'' Moore added.

 

Broward Circuit Judge John A. Frusciante, who must approve requests

from doctors before they can prescribe mind-altering drugs to children

whose cases he oversees, said Risperdal continues to be used

frequently by doctors who treat children in state care.

 

''It is not uncommon,'' Frusciante said.

 

''This whole psychotropic drug issue is a problem for us,'' Frusciante

said.

``It's a very scary area to be in, because we know medication can be a

tremendous help for a number of children. But we also know that there

are risks to the children who are taking these medications.''

 

Friday, DCF officials told The Herald they would review the new

material and ask doctors who care for foster children to re-evaluate

their medication options.

 

''We will make this information available to all our districts,

program supervisors, community-based care agencies and partners,''

said DCF spokesman Bill Spann. ``In addition, we will provide this

information to all the physicians who care for the children in foster

care, and ask them to review the cases of any children who are on the

drug.

 

''We will ask them to take the appropriate action,'' Spann said.

 

ONE IN THREE TREATED

 

The state Agency for Health Care Administration, which pays the drug

bill for most children in state care, as well as needy children who

are insured by Medicaid, could not say Friday how many Florida

Medicaid recipients are being administered the drug.

 

In 2001, after The Herald's series, DCF reviewed the records of most

foster children. Records showed about about one in three foster

children taking a powerful mood-altering drug. Many were taking

untested combinations, or ''cocktails,'' of the drugs.

 

Infants and toddlers were being given psychiatric drugs, according to

a 2003 study by the Florida Statewide Advocacy Council.

 

Antoinette R. Appel, a Plantation neuropsychologist, studied the

records of about 50 South Florida foster children who had been

prescribed Risperdal.

 

She said many of the children developed severe side-effects, including

obesity, lethargy, lack of concentration, hormonal disorders and the

inappropriate development of secondary sexual characteristics, such as

lactating breasts in boys or young girls.

 

Carolyn Salisbury, associate director of the University of Miami's

Children & Youth Law Clinic, has pleaded with child welfare

authorities for about five years to curtail the widespread use of

mood-altering drugs among foster kids, who often complain the drugs

make them more ill.

 

VICTORY IN COURT

 

One of the clinic's most high-profile clients, identified in court

papers as M.W., won a Florida Supreme Court ruling that child welfare

authorities cannot lock up foster kids in psychiatric hospitals

without a hearing. M.W. had developed lactating breasts after doctors

forced him to take Risperdal, court records show.

 

One of Salisbury's clients, a 15-year-old girl, begged her to prevent

the child welfare agency from forcing her to take Risperdal, Salisbury

said. The girl had become obese and suffered from dramatic mood

swings, alternating between feeling agitated or very depressed.

 

''I always object to my foster child clients being placed on Risperdal . .

..,'' Salisbury said. ``However, DCF continues to place children in

their care on the drug, even though DCF knows full well the horrible

side effects foster children continue to suffer on this drug.''