foodconsumer.org: FDA Approves Drug for Shizophrenia and Bi-Polar Disorder

FDA Approves Drug for Shizophrenia and Bi-Polar Disorder
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admin on 08/15/2009 13:13:00
 
By Rachel Stockton (rachels@foodconsumer.org)
A drug that has just been approved by the FDA to treat schizophrenia and bipolar
1 disorder will hit the US market in the 4th quarter of this year. Saphis is
manufactured by Shering-Plough, a pharmaceutical company planning on a merger
with Merck in the upcoming weeks.
While the FDA endorses the drug, the manufacturers still must issue a black box
warning because of some of the more serious side effect affiliated with Seharis.
 Some of them are only mildly uncomfortable (sedation, weight gain, mouth
sensitivity), while others can be life threatening (it can increase death risk
if used to treat dementia related psychosis).
Debra D, a 38 year old consultant from Tulsa, is looking forward to giving the
drug a try.  "I've struggled with mental illness my entire life; it is what it
is.  Finally accepting it has made life a lot easier, even when I'm suffering
from mania."
Debra made up a scale of symptoms to describe to her friends and family "where
she is" on any given day.  "A 1-3 reading means I'm depressed and will not
likely leave my bedroom.  Anything over 7, and I'm dangerously close to full
blown mania," a condition which has left her in places across the world with no
memory of how she got there.
Some symptoms of schizophrenia can be terrifying; patients can hear imagined
voices and see things that aren't there.  "I couldn't attend my brother's
wedding because the voices became so loud and intrusive that I had trouble
differentiating them from people who really were standing right in front of me."
Debra says the totality of her symptoms make her willing to give the drug a
trial run.  "I can handle the weight gain and the drowsiness, if I can just get
rid of the voices."