Studies show adverse side effects

in Schizophrenia drugs
Tuesday, December 28, 2010 by: Amy Chaves, citizen journalist
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(NaturalNews) The November 2010 issue ofNaturereported that several large

pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, have chosen
to pull out of the psychiatric pharmacology in the treatment of schizophrenia. The
reason is obvious, according toNatureauthor, Abbott: The first generation of
schizophrenia drugs (manufactured in the 1950s) and the second generation
(manufactured in the 1990s) have not addressed the adverse side effects of
antipsychotic drugs onpatients.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizesschizophreniaas a mental disorder

that interferes with a person's ability to identify what is real. A person affected with
thisdisorderis not able to manage emotions, cognition, as well as communication.
Symptoms could appear in early adolescence as "early flickers of paranoia,
hypersensitivity, and hallucination" (Dobbs, 2010). According toWHO, schizophrenia
is usually characterized by disruptions in the most fundamental human attributes
such as perception, language, thought,emotion, and sense of self. In 2001, WHO
estimated that schizophrenia affects 7 per thousand of the adultpopulation(the
equivalent of 24 million worldwide), mostly between 15 to 35 years old.

The same November 2010 issue ofNaturediscussed about a US clinical trial involving
nearly 1,500 patients in 57 clinical sites, and at a cost of US$43 million. This trial
examined an array of second generationantipsychotic drugsto determine if they
were better than the first generation antipsychoticdrugs. The clinical trial spanned
from 2001-2005. When the results of the unblinded trial were released in 2005, the
psychiatric community and pharmacologicalcompanieswere astounded: the findings
suggest that the new drugs were barely different from the old ones.

Although both generations ofanti-psychotic drugswere reported to control

hallucinations and delusions, patients taking the second generation drugs remained
confused, withdrawn, and devoid of drive, the sameside effectsobserved in the first
generation drugs. The result of this clinical trial, according to psychiatrist Jeffrey
Lieberman, is frustrating and humbling for theresearchcommunity and it had a
chilling effect on the pharmaceutical industry (Abbott, 2010).

A systematicreviewin 2003 by Bagnall, et al., examined the effectiveness,safety, and

cost-effectiveness of atypical antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia. The
review consisted of 171 randomized, controlled trials, of which 28 were
fromdrugmanufacturers. Although the review showed that atypical drugs (i.e.,
risperidone, amisulpride, olanzipine, and clozapine) were seen to be more effective
in relieving symptoms of schizophrenia than typical ones, it nonetheless found the
following common side-effects: agitation, movement disorders, impotence, dry
mouth, nausea and vomiting, dizziness, and weight gain.

The same systematic review examined the safety of these drugs and some of the
following adverse reactions were found: death, malignant syndrome, seizures,
hepatic dysfunction, and cardiac problems.

A systematic review, involving the application of scientific strategies to limit bias, is a

synthesis of relevantstudiesthat address specific clinical questions. Reviews of this
kind are considered as the best evidence for making clinical decisions.

The findings of the 2001-2005 US clinical trial and the systematic review of Bagnall,
et al. point to the ineffectiveness of anti-psychotic drugs in dealing with
schizophrenia. Considering that up to 1% of the world's population is estimated to be
affected by this disorder, schizophrenia represents a huge market for any
pharmaceutical. However, as research have shown, the pharmaceutical industries
have done little in 50 years to address the adverse side-effects that patients have
experienced from antipsychotic drugs .

References:

Abbott, A. (11 November, 2010). The drug deadlock.Nature, 468, 158-159.

Bagnall, A. M., Jones, L., Ginnelly, L., Lewis, R., Glanville, J., Gibody, S.,...Kleijnen, J.
(2003). A systematic review of atypical antipsychotic drugs in schizophenia (Executive
Summary).Health Technology Assessment, 7(13). Retrieved from

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