Online Pharmacy Medicine Blog

Today Israel drug maker Teva stated that it has received approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration to go ahead with production of generic antidepressant drug Effexor XR.

The drug originally produced by Wyeth has finally ran out of its exclusivity period, which means we will see a cheaper alternative on shelves beginning July 1.

Teva had sought approval for its generic drug in 2006, but under a patent settlement with Wyeth, the company agreed to hold off on selling the drug until now.

This is great news for those that pay for there prescriptions out of pocket. Generic versions will be drastically cheaper than there brand name counterparts. You can also expect to see the brand versions price drop due to the added competition.

Don’t wait any longer to save on your prescription medications sign up to ePharmacies.com today.

A growing stream of studies and news reports is questioning the effectiveness of Abilify (aripiprazole), the heavily advertised antidepressant.

As the Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry blog reports:

Yet another Abilify for depression study is out in CNS Spectrums and guess what… Still not a significant advantage over placebo according to patients. So in each of three large studies, Abilify has failed to beat a placebo according to patients’ self-report. These three trials are the basis for the massive marketing campaign and an FDA approval.

Abilify started off as an also-ran antipsychotic. But times have changed. Bristol-Myers Squibb’s CEO prophetically stated in 2004 after Abilify’s approval as a treatment for bipolar disorder: “This approval underscores our commitment to delivering innovative solutions that address unmet needs for a broad spectrum of patients with mental illness, as well as their families and health care providers.”

He could as easily have stated: “This approval underscores our commitment to rebranding our unpopular antipsychotic as a Swiss Army Knife/broad spectrum psychotropic that treats everything under the sun. If I can get the FDA and the public to believe that this akathisia-inducing bottom feeder can treat depression, then I’ll be LOADED, BWAAH, HA HA HA HA!!!”

The Los Angeles Times has written of Abilify:

Mounting research has made clear that the atypical antipsychotics [such as Abilify] are not only less safe than originally thought; they are not, on balance, any safer or more effective than older drugs for schizophrenia. And for the population of depressed or anxious patients that some are now proposed to treat, studies suggest the benefits are extremely modest.

Abilify has been specifically advertised as an “add-on” antidepressant for people who are currently taking antidepressants — but who still feel depressed. As such, hordes of patients have gone to their doctors and psychiatrists asking if they should add Abilify to their drug regimen.

As always, consult with your doctor. But it would seem a prudent course to try a number of different conventional antidepressants (Lexapro, Wellbutrin, etc.) before concluding that you need to take not one, but two, drugs for your depression.

Until recently, it was more common for celebrities to die from illegal drugs than from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. But as prescription drug abuse has become a larger problem for our society as a whole, we have seen an increasing number of celebrities die as a result.

Just since 2007, we have lost Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith and now, possibly, King of Pop Michael Jackson because of prescription drugs.

“This is not something that has been unexpected… because of the medications which Michael was under,” Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman said shortly after the singer’s death. Jackson reportedly was taking Xanax, Zoloft and Demerol at the time of his death.

Which drugs are the most likely to cause accidental drug deaths? In many cases, it’s not one drug — it’s a combination of drugs that can be deadly when taken together.

Here are 10 of the most famous accidental celebrity prescription drug deaths and the medications that caused them. You’ll notice several no prescription drugs that have played a role in multiple celebrity deaths, including Valium, Xanax and Vicodin.

1. Marilyn Monroe: Nembutal, chloral hydrate

2. Elvis Presley: Placidyl, Dexedrine

3. Judy Garland: Seconal

4. Howard Hughes: Valium, codeine

5. Heath Ledger: OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax, Valium, Restoril

6. Dorothy Dandrige (1940s/50s actress): Imipramine

7. Dana Plato (Diff’rent Strokes): Vanadom, Vicodin

8. Keith Moon (The Who): Heminevrin

9. Rob Pilatus (Milli Vanilli): methadone

10. Robert Walker (1940s/50s actor): sodium amytal

Too many of our nation’s elderly are committing suicide rather than treating their depression with medication, according to a study in the March 2009 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

A review of postmortem toxicology of 162 suicide victims 65 and older showed that fewer than 25 percent of the victims had antidepressants, such as Lexapro and Wellbutrin, in their systems at the time of death. Among those 85 and older, fewer than 17 percent were using antidepressants.

Dr. Robert C. Abrams, from Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, concludes in the report:

Assuming that many of the suicide victims had clinically treatable depression, these findings implicate problems in the delivery of specific antidepressant pharmacologic treatment…

Studies suggest that up to 15 percent of the elderly population of the United States suffers from depression. Elderly people comprise 13 percent of the population but account for 18 percent of suicides.

Beyond the psychological and physical impact of aging, other factors that contribute to depression among the elderly are drug interactions and side effects. Several drugs administered for chronic conditions can cause depression. Among these are pain relievers for arthritis, cholesterol drugs, blood pressure medications, and bronchodilators used for asthma.

Antidepressants can help ease the symptoms of depression in the elderly. However, any medical problems complicating the depression must be resolved also. If a senior suffers from chronic pain, for example, this can interfere with recovery, so it must be managed along with the depression itself.