Butter Up Docs With Risperdal Popcorn
12 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // May 21st, 2007 // 6:44 am
Are those free lunches from sales reps becoming gauche? Are too many docs too busy to have time for a real lunch, anyway? Why not give them something quick and tasty then? Something that isn’t quite a meal, but isn’t junk food either?
Johnson & Johnson has come up with an answer: Risperdal popcorn.
Easy to cook, lasts for hours and it doesn’t even contain active drug ingredients.
What this has to do with treating schizophrenia isn’t clear, although kids will probably like the stuff, right? But there are marketing opportunities that go way beyond a doctor’s busy office. After all, if Paul Newman can do it, so can Bill Weldon. Don’t laugh. There’s a kernel of truth here.
Think of the possibilities - Risperdal popcorn could be sold in vending machines in mental-health clinics and hospitals. The packaging could carry printed coupons for discounts on resorts favored by doctors. This could be a new profit center.
From there, J&J could seek permission to sell Risperdal popcorn with active drug ingredients to reach the widest audience possible, especially given reports that antipsychotics are increasingly prescribed to children. In this case, a tablespoon of salt might make the medicine go down. Of course, those concerns about weight gain may linger.
Something to chew on, yes?
[tags]Johnson & Johnson, Risperdal[/tags]
Lisa Van Syckel
Risperdal has been given to N.J. infants & toddlers under medicaid, at tax payers expense.Do we know how this drug is administered? Laced pacifiers,Maybe? J&J should stick to selling baby powder!!!
Psych Doc
Lisa,
Stick to something you know about. I agree that the marketing is ridiculous. However, your comment about Risperdal is ridiculous. Risperdal is VERY effective in treating behavioral problems in pediatric patients and it DOES have a pediatric indication.
Risperdal given to infants? Yeah right.
Psych Doc
Lisa,
Stick to something you know about. I agree that the marketing is ridiculous. However, your comment about Risperdal is ridiculous. Risperdal is VERY effective in treating behavioral problems in pediatric patients and it DOES have a pediatric indication.
Risperdal given to infants? Yeah right.
ed
For the record:
Last October, the FDA approved Risperdal for treating kids with autistic symptoms.
Ed
pythia
Doing something as irresponsible as prescribing a drug like Risperdal to a child whose brain isn´t yet fully developed should be a crime. I´d like to see the psychiatrist who would even for a minute consider giving this dangerous poison to his or her own child.
Laurie
Yeah, why worry about what is happening to a child pancreas…as long as their behavior is better. And the obesity side effect….eye roll!
Psych doc
You guys and gals are so one sided it isn’t even funny. Actually, it is pathetic.
I enjoyed this forum for about one day Ed. Sorry, but this is completely a one sided bitch fest so you guys have at it.
Your posters don’t really have any educated clue as to what they are talking about and it shows. No drug is perfect. No doctor is perfect. No company is perfect.
But to say that a psychiatrist should be face “criminal charges” for prescribing a product that is FDA approved for pediatric patients just shows that it isn’t worth trying to have an intelligent discussion with this group.
Dr. Lloyd Ross
I am responding to the annonymous “psych doc” who is fearful of using his own name as a clinical psychologist in practice for the past 30 years. Zyprexa, a sister drug to Risperdal is also approved by the FDA. Yet itwas found to cause obesity and aggressive onset diabetes and is probably responsible for the deaths of more than 4000 people in the U.S. alone, not to mention the suffering and costs and limitations suffered by many others who have taken it. Right now, there are 8 state attorney generals who are engaged in active medicaid fraud lawsuits against Eli Lilly for the marketing of this FDA approved drug when they knew full well the damage it would cause. Medicaid fraud is a criminal offense. There are also 10 addfitional states who are planning similar law suits. In addition, several attorney generals are contemplating criminally negligent homicide charges agaist the Eli Lilly executives who knowingly witheld this vital information. Since all this is now public knowledge, and doctor who perscribes Zyprexa should face criminal charges. Risperdal has similar nasty side effects and they are mulitplied when given to children. The Hippocratic oath says: “First do no harm.”
I guess that you feel, psych doc, that as long as the FDA covers your lazy ass, you don’t have to bother reading the research and all you have to do is listen to what the drug detailer tells you to do. And when someone threatens your superior knowledge with facts you do not like to hear, you run from the discussion. Sort of like pleading the fifth ammendment. What a shame. Please feel free to print my name.
Ben Hansen
Please see “Drug-Induced Movement Disorders,” edited by Stewart A. Factor, Anthony E. Lang and William J. Weiner (2nd edition, Blackwell Publishing 2005).
In chapter 5, “Acute drug-induced dystonia,” Michaerl F. Mazurek and Patricia I. Rosebush write, “Contrary to initial expectations, the currently available literature suggests that the risk of acute dystonia with risperidone is roughly comparable to what is observed with older antipsychotic drugs.”
On page 80 the authors include a table showing the percentage of neurological side-effects in neuroleptic-naive patients treated with risperdidone (Risperdal) or haloperidol (Haldol). Risperdal is actually worse than Haldol in 3 out of 4 side effects:
Dystonia: Haldol 35%, Risperdal 26%
Akathisia: Haldol 39%, Risperdal 50%
Parkinsonism: Haldol 53%, Risperdal 60%
Dyskinesia: Haldol 6%, Risperdal 7%
Ben Hansen
Traverse City, Michigan
Lisa Van Syckel
Dear Psyche Doc,
You are correct,FDA did approve risperdal for behavioural issues in autistic children.Risperdal has been given to infants under 12 months.What tools do you use to diagnose a mental illnes in an infant?There are none that I am aware of!!Just because a Drug is approved by FDA doesnt mean it is safe and effective for all.Any Physician who prescribes antipsychotics to infants,should go and have their own heads examined…
Lisa Van Syckel
Dear Psyche Doc,
Risperdal is being prescribed to INFANTS,and I have The New Jersey Medicaid record to prove it.I have forwarded this information on to Ed.I would be more than happy to provide you with a copy of the NJ Medicaide record.Not only do you get the age of the child,you also get the name of the drug.And for a BONUS,they even give you the name of the DOC
Lisa Van Syckel
Dear Psyche Doc,
Bitch Fest!!,sure doesnt sound very professional……