Now Pharma is announcing that insomnia is actually a "risk"
factor for depression
and "that treating insomnia can help treat depression." The American
Psychiatric Association's new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual due in May
(DSM-5) also newly pathologizes sleep. Considered the Bible of psychiatric drug
treatments that end up being funded by insurers, the latest Manual has revised
the way that insomnia is diagnosed and classified. "If sleep disturbance
is persistent and impairs daytime functioning, then it should be recognized and
treated," write authors in a paper the December issue of the Journal of Clinical
Psychiatry. [i]
Recycling Neurontin
The
seizure drug Neurontin (gabapentin) has not been Pharma's finest hour. A
division of Pfizer Inc., pleaded guilty in 2008 to illegally
promoting it for bipolar disorder, pain, migraine headaches, and drug and
alcohol withdrawal when it was only approved for postherpetic neuralgia, pain
after shingles and epilepsy, paying $430 million. Oops. Pï zer actually promoted
the illegal uses while under probation for illegal activities related to
Lipitor and
later promoted illegal uses for a similar drug, Lyrica, while under the Neurontin
agreement! [ii]
See: incorrigible.
To
sell Neurontin, Pfizer's Parke-Davis launched an elaborate "publication
plan" to get marketing papers disguised as science in medical journals. In
just three years, Parke-Davis planted 13 ghostwritten
articles in medical journals promoting off-label uses for Neurontin
including a supplement to the prestigious Cleveland Clinic Journal of
Medicine
that Parke-Davis made into 43,000 reprints for its reps to disseminate. See
Doc, it says right here"..
And
there was more duplicity. In 2011, three years after its $430 million settlement,
Pfizer's STEPS trial ("Study of Neurontin: Titrate to Effect, Proï le of
Safety") was reported to also be a con--a sales tool
created to inspire the 772 investigators participating in the trail to
personally prescribe Neurontin not a scientific study. Recently, the new uses
for Neurontin of chronic cough, menopause and insomnia are appearing in scientific literature. Why
does no one seem to believe them?
END
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