Furious Seasons

February 29, 2008

Pristiq, "New" Anti-Depressant, Approved

This is certainly a fabulous Friday for pharma execs in the land. Abilify gets approved for kids this morning and this afternoon we learn that the FDA just approved Pristiq for depression. The drug is made by Wyeth and is essentially a rejiggered Effexor, only this one was originally developed to help women with hot flashes. You know Wyeth is going to give this drug a huge roll out since Effexor goes off-patent fairly soon and I'm sure that the made-for-hot-flashes-but-good-for-depression sales pitch is going to work wonders with men and women of every age.

As CL Psych and I noted last year, this smells like another episode of Celexa gets tweaked and becomes Lexapro. In other words, this is another me-too anti-depressant that will probably not have an unique features or efficacy.

One hopes that the drug proves less gnarly to take than does Effexor and that patients can actually get off the drug without going through the Effexor joneses.

Danny Carlat had these thoughts:

"And Dr. Daniel Carlat, a psychiatrist in Newburyport, Mass., who publishes the Carlat Psychiatry Report, said the release of Pristiq appeared mainly to be an effort by the company to, in effect, extend its patent for Effexor XR.
"That is because Pristiq is a metabolite of Effexor — meaning it is the chemical compound that results after Effexor is swallowed and processed in the body.

'"Is there a compelling public health reason for Wyeth to be releasing another antidepressant into the market, with no clear advantages over others?' Dr. Carlat said. 'Not that I can see.'"

The company continues to seek approval for the drug to treat hot flashes.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at February 29, 2008 04:00 PM

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Comments

I thought I was having hot flashes while on the anti depressant Trazodone rx'd for insomnia. The sweating was ridiculous. I read something on the internet about that being a side effect[anecdotal]so I went off of it. Never slept better and stopped sweating.

I guess we can call this one the "Daughter of Effexor", since Invega got the "Son of Risperdal" status.

Anti depressants are not hormone replacement therapy. They are "Donna pills".

Posted by: Stephany at February 29, 2008 04:47 PM

I like Dr Carlat , It is so refreshing to see a psychiatrist who has integrity and compassion..

He must be in the top 0.1 % of his profession which has these qualities ..

Still..

Fair play to him

Posted by: truthman30 at March 1, 2008 11:42 AM

marketing rant, because that's my job.

I also hate that name they gave it, i think the marketing team flunked on that one. it's like how home depot is orange and more men shop there; and lowe's is blue due to women liking to shop in that color theme and they get more business from women.

sorry off on a tangent, but marketing is a plus for this pharma stuff, and if it's geared toward me, they better work harder than that.

I'm looking forward to meeting the reps in the waiting area to see what the mugs look like. Invega's were home depot orange. yes, dud indeed.

Posted by: Stephany at March 1, 2008 10:13 PM

Pristiq, a combination of pristine and mystic, enticing us normal humans with our achy legs and runny noses, itches and aches and doubts to come in from the cold to the comfort of a pristine and yet mystically clean life, a purple pill for a clean healthy body and tastefully trendy yoga class mysticism, eternal youth is implied...and my instincts were correct, one of it's colors is purple, http://www.wyeth.com/hcp/pristiq/home?WT.mc_ID=7D74D7FF-10D7-45EB-9E1F-2F3AC5B3DEA3&WT.srch=1&WT.mc_ev=click

You're right about Invega Stephany, though maybe they were trying to market it to the manly man, a macho pill...sounds a little like viagra maybe they should rebrand invega as duravigra and show an unhappy man, unshaven and zyprexa gutted flacid pale arm dragging a basket around a pink and silver grocery store and then flash to the post Duravigra man tan, buff, in a hard hat driving a bright orange back hoe..."Duravega, it'll crank your tractor."

Sorry for the ramble now I'm going outside.

Posted by: Sally at March 2, 2008 08:16 AM

Actually, Invega really is marketed to men, and of course not shaving, i.e. having a beard is now a symptom of schizophrenia...just look:

http://www.invega.com/invega/assets/Patient_Daily_Checklist.pdf#zoom=100

Posted by: Sally at March 2, 2008 09:43 AM

I'm with Stephany. I was on Effexor, and I was hot and sweaty all the time. Moved to Texas and changed to Lexapro, which is only a little better. I have a hard time believing a close relative would reduce hot flashes.

Posted by: anne at March 3, 2008 09:41 AM