Texas Sues Over Rispderdal, TIMA May Be In Doubt

The State of Texas is now suing the maker of Risperdal, J&J/Janssen, for misrepresenting the "safety and effectiveness" of Risperdal to state officials and for "improperly" influencing the development of treatment protocols through "financial contributions." There's more:

"The companies pushed Risperdal in other states through paid consultants on expert panels, peer-to-peer marketing strategies and "administrative decisions made by a select few public officials," the lawsuit says. The companies sent an unnamed Texas official around the country as a spokesman for the drug, and they hired third-party contractors to conceal their control and funding of medical education programs, speakers' bureaus and clinical research that promoted the benefits and safety of Risperdal, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit says at least 17 states, including Texas, have implemented the protocol or are doing so."

Unless I miss my guess, the protocol would be the Texas Indication of Medication Algorithm (TIMA), which is influential in the psych world and which docs have always assured me was evidence-based and all so scientific. Sure it was.

If these assertions are proven at trial, I'd say that the TIMA is toast. Which makes me think J&J's lawyers will be talking settlement tout suite. Gee, I wonder what documents might come out of this case.

As well, I wonder if all the "there is hope" mental health advocates out there will now stop spreading the gospel about "oh, but it's evidence-based and doctors are working on exciting treatment algorithms" that they've been feeding the public, as well as myself, the last couple of years.

Psychiatry remains as much art as science. Patient care is more in the hands of the patient than it is of the doc.