I came across an interesting article in the SF Gate (San Francisco Chronicle) entitled, “Parents fight use of new psych meds for kids.” Public newspaper articles are seldom featured on this website, but I think this an important topic that needs to be discussed more. I am personally troubled with current trends in psychiatry to prescribe serious psychotropic medications with potentially devastating side effects to children. The SF Gate piece details parental efforts to stop The Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee from granting approval of several anti-psychotic medications for use with children. Check the end of this review for a link to the original story.
Many of the “activists” are parents whose children died or are severely disabled from psychotropic medications. Unfortunately, officials on the The Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee even refused to speak with parents who attended the public meeting. Parents efforts did not appear to pay off as the following anti-psychotic drugs received approval for children:
“AstraZeneca’s Seroquel (quetiapine) for the acute treatment of schizophrenia in adolescents 13 to 17, acute treatment of bipolar mania in children 10 to 12 and adolescents 13 to 17; Pfizer’s Geodon (ziprasidone) for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar disorder, with or without psychotic features, in children and adolescents ages 10 to 17; and Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa (olanzapine) for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder and acute treatment of schizophrenia in adolescents.”
My prediction is that 5 to 10 years down the road healthcare officials look back and will regret these decisions.
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