Differing Views Of Invega

Yesterday, I ran across several interesting accounts of the atypical anti-psychotic Invega, J&J/Janssen's Son of Risperdal. One was a patient account left on this site:

"I was on Invega for 4 months for bi polar. I was taken off it due to a rise in my glucose level and weight gain. My glucose level rose ten points per month I was on Invega. I experienced dizziness and tiredness."

Another was here:

"On Invega, I was doing really well for quite a while, not hearing things, and not hallucinating at all, and not having delusions. I had them ocassionally, but it was mild in comparison to the way things used to be before I was on medication. I did well before Invega, on Risperdal, so I've been getting better for quite a while now."

And, it sounds like some J&J/Janssen sales reps are running into problems selling the one-year-old drug, according to the anonymous gossip on CafePharma:

"Now that Invega is officially not on national VA formulary and many of us can't discuss it or promote it....why isn't Janssen removing it from our territory? How come upper management doesn't have a plan to get it reviewed again? The pull through demand by the local reps didn't work but they keep it in our comped on universe. I think it is ridiculous we are penalized by keeping these large dollar volume accounts when we can't move any sales. Do we even have a government accounts team that focuses on the VA anymore?"

What's bad for sales reps sure sounds even worse for patients.