BP Squared: A new series!
And now, ladies and gents, introducing a new feature here on TTWS: Big Pharma and Bipolar, aka BP Squared. The focus, for the moment, will be on the continuing expansion of Seroquel’s indications for bipolar disorder. I think if we pay careful attention, we’ll be able to see the evolution of Seroquel from relatively unknown medication for psychosis to household-name treatment for bipolar disorder. Though I take Seroquel, I do so for psychosis, not for bipolar depression or mania.
Now, the latest from DGNews.com, says Canadians are also getting in on the act:
Updated Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) guidelines have been issued for the management and treatment of patients suffering from bipolar disorder. The guidelines consider Seroquel™ (quetiapine fumarate) as a first-line single medication for bipolar depression and a second-line option for the management of bipolar II depression1. Seroquel is currently licensed for ‘the treatment of depressive episodes associated with bipolar disorder’, in the United States only.
Emphasis mine.
“We felt that the data from BOLDER I and BOLDER II were so strong that it merited inclusion of Seroquel as a first-line option for bipolar depression in these guidelines ” said Dr. Lakshmi N Yatham, MD, primary author of the CANMAT Guidelines and Professor of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
And just who is Dr. Yatham? A doctor who last year was compelled to disclose the following: He receives funding from AstraZeneca (makers of Seroquel), has acted as consultant for them, is on the promotional speakers bureau of AZ as well as the CME speakers bureau of AZ. I think those facts speak for themselves.
Updated Bipolar Disorder Guidelines include Seroquel as a first line therapy for Bipolar Depression on strength of BOLDER I and II data
liz | 11:21 AM | Uncategorized
it’s odd – i’m on seroquel, but i’m not exactly sure why. most of the doctors i’ve had don’t seem really to know why they’re prescribing a specific drug; they just pray that something works. more often than not, i end up choosing the actual drug. i think my agency is an important and essential, but i’d like to have someone more informed then myself to be guiding the process.
so now i’m on lamictal and 525mg of effexor. my seroquel, however, i took down from 200mg to 25mg. i decide it made me too tired. one doc said that seroquel actually proved less sedating at high dosages, but i didn’t have the patience to try that. and still, no clear understanding exactly why i was on 200mg or 25 (and the various dosages I did between), except that i made some decision and figured out how to sleep through the night (or at least four hours of it).
Ahhh, nice to see someone else noting one of the rampant conflicts of interest in academic psychiatry. Seroquel is going on the bipolar warpath. I hope to see more digging around on these conflicts of interest.
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