Saturday, June 19, 2004
IF IT DOESN'T HURT THE BEAGLES IN CAGES AT THE INDIANAPOLIS LILLY PLANT, IT MUST BE FINE
I've noticed a sharp increase in the general public consumption of olanzapine of late. Indeed, just last week, I could be heard saying this while filling prescriptions at work:
What's up with all the Zyprexa scripts?
Actually, it might have been more along the lines of this:
Everyone and their dog is getting Zyprexa these days.
Well, it would seem I am not alone in my wonderment at this phenomenon [I just hope my wonderment won't be misinterpreted as psychosis]. An article in the British Medical Journal is addressing this very problem, and don't doubt that it is a problem. The manufacturer of said molecule, Eli Lilly, seems to have cornered the market on antipsychotics [or if that is too jarring a word, mood stabilizers] with its costly mind-numbing product, ostensibly a direct result of the Texas Medication Algorithm Project, which puts Zyprexa as first-line therapy in the treatment of mental illness. What about all of the other similarly classed drugs that are available as cheaper generics? The answer to that is they don't contribute as heavily to the Bush administration as does Lilly. As a result of all this heavy financial backing, the establishment of Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health ensured that the above-named algorithm placed Zyprexa as the clear prescribing choice for mental illness. The scary commission also recommends increased screening for mental illness, which has the plastic Lilly reps pushing their wares on physicians not just in Texas, but all over the country, even north of the border, and indeed, all over the planet. The bottom line is this: people who don't need this drug are being told that they do. Alas, I suspect that this is just the beginning of the dumbing-down agenda... once it is in full swing, most everyone will be too [legally] stoned to worry about anything.
I've noticed a sharp increase in the general public consumption of olanzapine of late. Indeed, just last week, I could be heard saying this while filling prescriptions at work:
What's up with all the Zyprexa scripts?
Actually, it might have been more along the lines of this:
Everyone and their dog is getting Zyprexa these days.
Well, it would seem I am not alone in my wonderment at this phenomenon [I just hope my wonderment won't be misinterpreted as psychosis]. An article in the British Medical Journal is addressing this very problem, and don't doubt that it is a problem. The manufacturer of said molecule, Eli Lilly, seems to have cornered the market on antipsychotics [or if that is too jarring a word, mood stabilizers] with its costly mind-numbing product, ostensibly a direct result of the Texas Medication Algorithm Project, which puts Zyprexa as first-line therapy in the treatment of mental illness. What about all of the other similarly classed drugs that are available as cheaper generics? The answer to that is they don't contribute as heavily to the Bush administration as does Lilly. As a result of all this heavy financial backing, the establishment of Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health ensured that the above-named algorithm placed Zyprexa as the clear prescribing choice for mental illness. The scary commission also recommends increased screening for mental illness, which has the plastic Lilly reps pushing their wares on physicians not just in Texas, but all over the country, even north of the border, and indeed, all over the planet. The bottom line is this: people who don't need this drug are being told that they do. Alas, I suspect that this is just the beginning of the dumbing-down agenda... once it is in full swing, most everyone will be too [legally] stoned to worry about anything.
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