Comments: Atypical Nation: J&J's Risperdal "Defective," Company Lied, Thousands Died
In August of 1999, my daughter was 11 years old. After an adverse reaction[suicidal ideation]on Imipramine, I took her to a psychiatrist, who dx her OCD in 30 minutes. Placed her on Luvox, which accelerated her "thoughts", and the psych recommended hospitalization.THERE, inpatient at age 11--was where they put her on Risperdal. Her eyes locked looking up, she was so pale and couldnt move her legs--I thought she was dying. I was then clueless about psych meds, and trusted doctors.
I will never forget seeing her and thinking my 11 year old looked like she was dying. That was in 1999, what fucking nerve this company has to place my daughter at risk that way, and the smack in my face as a mother and for my daughter, is that Eli Lilly's Zyprexa is what replaced that Risperdal!
For reading about Biederman,Wozniak, Wilens and Spencer and the study for Risperdal use in kids way back in 1999, as well as how it was approved for use in kids in 2007, read my post 1999>2007:OCD>ADHD>Childhood Bipolar and just need not wonder any further, what my daughter's "OCD" dx "changed" to within weeks---yeah that's right, Childhood Bipolar Disorder, in 1999.
I hope this company and Eli Lilly are ready for a patient lawsuit, because I'm rolling up my sleeves.
They can fucking pay for her to live somewhere decent, for her long term care at age 19. I have to say, this is a topic everyone should not disregard, pay attention to these killers in our midst. I am lucky my daughter is alive, and at what cost!!?
I really do not want to visit her in a residential care facility at age 19 for Thanksgiving, and I am. Does anyone understand why this angers me.
Posted by Stephany at November 21, 2007 08:52 AM
Phil, your analysis is missing, what I think, is the critical point, which is: disclosure of side effects of a particular drug, here Risperdal, is not a substitute for approval of the use of the drug in the first place. In other words, knowing all the bad effects of Risperdal cannot substitute for its governmental approval for consumers' use. The FDA, a governmental authority charged with monitoring the safety and effectiveness of medications, approved Risperdal. Other than a few warnings, the FDA has done nothing to stop its marketing, notwithstanding the fact that Risperdal was unnecessary at best (there are better or similar quality drugs on the market already), or dangerous (and should be banned) at worst. The FDA is not a party to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs in the lawsuits are not consumers but the states. The states are not representatives of consumers and whatever money they recover will go the states . The states are not seeking to ban Risperdal and if they did, they probably couldn't. What's this lawsuit is all about? It's about local governments seeing an opportunity to get some money out of drug companies. What the lawsuit doesn't address is that drugs are not securities; a prescribing information is not a prospectus; the concept of let the buyer beware (caveat emptor) can have no application to prescription medicines, that consumers cannot understand medications and that individual doctors are in no better position that consumers to understand medications either. What the lawsuit proves is that the FDA has failed consumers once again. So it's a useless exercise as far as individuals are concerned.
Posted by Red Rover at November 21, 2007 09:03 AM
"What the lawsuit proves is that the FDA has failed consumers once again."
That's exactly right. So who really is at fault for innocent death and bodily injury to American citizens? Like Rebecca Riley?
Posted by Stephany at November 21, 2007 10:51 AM
I was put on a very low dose of risperdal while inpatient for depression. Not psychosis. I had muscle spasms in my legs. I showed my psychiatrist, and he tried rubbing the spasming muscles to get it to stop - didn't work. He told me it would go away as my body adjusted to it. I refused to take any more for 3 reasons:
1. I wasn't psychotic
2. Muscle spasms aren't really all that comfortable.
3. I didn't want to be fat
Posted by Lisa at November 21, 2007 11:54 AM
I think I like this McDaniel guy (assuming that he played a significant role in the wording of the Complaint). Either way, what this action should do is bring into the public domain a whole bunch of really useful documentation. Let's hope that McDaniel doesn't back down, if Janssen offers to settle.
This has to stop. I can barely believe that this is solely about money, and the protection of powered interests, and yet that appears to be the only explanation that wouldn't get one banged up in an institution! The sheer scale of the fraud is enough to have most people disbelieve it, and the fact that regulators and government departments have overseen it for years is a matter of grave concern. It reaches not only into government, but into academia and the financial markets (pharma stocks are a "banker," as you're probably aware.
The upshot is that there is a massive motivation to keep a lid on this nonsense, which the deaths of trusting patients just don't seem to begin to counteract. Personally, I don't expect anybody to do a damn thing about this, so I'm just going for routine humiliation, and if informing the public one by one in a sufficiently compelling way is the only way to undermine these bastards, then that's what I'm going to do.
I, for one, will not be told that the side effects I experienced on fluoxetine were my fault. And when those fuckers are lying on the floor screaming for release, and there's nobody there to help them, they'll know what it's like in the darkest of dark places that I've visited. And I'm going to leave them there, to find there own way out. Just as I was.
Matt
Posted by Matthew Holford at November 21, 2007 02:59 PM
Janssen / J&J could always make a "cost saving" argument akin to that put forth by Phillip Morris. Sadly, here it might garner some support given that so few care that persons dealing with a mental illness die well before their time in this supposed Era of Wellness and Recovery.
Philip Morris Claims Smokers Help Economy, British Medical Journal, July 21, 2001.
Smokers are doing their country a huge favour by boosting tax revenue, dying early, and not drawing a pension, according to a report by the tobacco giant Philip Morris.
http://www.mindfully.org/Health/Tobacco-Helps-Economy.htm
Mortality and Medical Comorbidity Among Patients With Serious Mental Illness, Psychiatric Services, October, 2006.
Observed deaths in our patient population [20,018 patients admitted to an Ohio public mental health hospital between 1998 and 2002 ] were more than three times as high as expected, compared with the U.S. general population. The mean age at death for ODMH [Ohio Department of Mental Health] decedents was 47.7±15.3 years, corresponding to an average of 32.0±12.6 years of potential life lost per patient.
http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/57/10/1482
Posted by Joe at November 21, 2007 04:08 PM
Ok now I am scared. I just started a new drug which as it would happen has a black box warning.
NOT ON THE CONTAINER, NOT IN ANY LITERATURE. I know this from a search.
All that is on the bottle is do not operate heavy machinery. As if they think I have a John Deere.
And when I told my\ new shrink today the suicidal ideation is getting worse, she said "we have a bed in the hospital for you".
Sigh. I am mad as hell, I am screaming, are these people at these drug companies think we are dumb??
Philip, keep up the good fight. I am so glad you don't kiss a** like another journalist or organizations I could name, but I;m a lady. We so rely on you for news. Just the fact's ma'am.
Posted by susan at November 21, 2007 06:32 PM
Stephany: Have you thought about suing the psychiatrists involved in your daughter's treatment? The statute of limitations might run out on you if you don't.
Posted by Red Rover at November 21, 2007 07:10 PM
Anyone who wants to know more about the horrors behind the approval of atypical antipsychotics should read Robert Whitaker's Mad in America. It's all there and it will leave you speechless. The fact the FDA is complicit in these shenanigans is mind boggling. I hope the lawyer in Arkansas gets his hands on it. Frontline also did an amazing documentary on clinical trials although it wasn't limited to psych drug trials which are the worst offenders. One day maybe criminal charges will be filed. As someone who lost a loved one to this poison I think they're overdue.
Posted by Sara at November 22, 2007 08:39 AM
Then there's the theory advanced by an MD by the name of Kunin (google Kunin and tardive) that neuroleptics cause the tardive syndromes by leaching manganese out of the brain. Risperdal has a chemical structure similar to that of haldol.
Bizarrely enough, he's actually been able to help patients with an "intractable" illness. Imagine that!
Posted by Jeremy at November 25, 2007 11:13 AM