Depression pill OK'd for kids but probe goes on

Source: Reuters

Allegations of kickbacks, worries about efficacy continue to linger

5:47 p.m. ET, Fri., March. 20, 2009

NEW YORK - Just weeks after prosecutors accused Forest Laboratories Inc. of illegally marketing its anti-depressants Celexa and Lexapro to children and paying pediatricians kickbacks, U.S. health regulators have approved Lexapro for depression in kids.

Forest said Lexapro, its biggest product with annual sales of more than $2 billion, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat major depressive disorder in adolescents aged 12 to 17 and as a maintenance therapy, meaning to maintain control of symptoms. It is already approved for adults.

But federal prosecutors have said that Lexapro and Celexa have long been used improperly to treat depression in children.

In February, after a five-year probe, the U.S. Justice Department accused Forest of wrongly attempting to sway pediatricians to prescribe Celexa and Lexapro, including inducements like spa visits, fishing trips and tickets to sporting events and Broadway shows. Neither drug had been approved for kids until Lexapro won the FDA's nod on Friday.

The federal complaint accused Forest of pushing aside a study showing that Celexa was ineffective for pediatric use and instead urging its sales staff to promote a second, more positive study.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29797423

if you follow the activities of big pharma:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/25569107/bitter_pill

It's called less homework, more playing outside in the sun, more friends, less bullying, less pressure about college and grades, more hobbies, a bit of responsibility, and a realistic view of drugs and sex that tells the truth and discourages self-destructive behavior without demonizing people.

Ah hell, that's way too complicated. Where do we get the pill?

I had a student who was in 3rd grade and tried to jump out the window of his 3rd floor classroom. I had another one who attempted suicide 3 times in one school year. He was 9.

Neither of these kids was on medication or had received any treatment for depression. So you can't blame big pharma for what they were dealing with.

I am not denying we are sometimes too quick to jump on the medication bandwagon but I know first hand that there really is a disease called depression that affects some kids.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

There are some kids who need to be on these drugs, they were born with the chemical inbalance.

I think genuine chemical imbalance is pretty rare, imbalance that needs to be treated is rarer, and having the heavily marketed multi-billion dollar drugs being the right treatment is far rarer still.

to my great grandfather. I understand now that I had bouts of depression dating to when I was about six or seven. I didn't know what was wrong and neither did my parents. My kids were treated for depression with both talk therapy and drugs starting at various ages from 6 to 20. I look at what they were able to accomplish with all the energy I had to devote to fighting off this illness and I am very grateful for the medications we now have.

What medications do you think are legitimate and trustworthy, and what ones are just being hyped without good science behind them in order to bolster pharmaceutical profits? I believe that drugs can have beneficial effects, I just don't trust the pharma-industrial complex that we have to guide their use.

will work for some people but not for others. Often a person will go through two or three medications or combinations to find what works best. Some change serotonin levels, others alter dopamine. The first big name new anti-depressants are now old enough that you can get the generic version very cheaply. Prozac is on that list.