The Psych Data Weblog has this short item on psychiatric conflict of interest in Florida.
Rajiv Tandon, Chief Psychiatrist, State of Florida, needs to be fired as an employee of the State. Check out the story in the St. Pete Times and then write a letter. Tandon received undisclosed amounts of money from every atypical antipsychotic maker.
As the "Chief Psychiatrist" Tandon invited only those psychiatrists who had been funded by atypical antipsychotic makers to a meeting where it was decided which antipsychotics to use in Florida. He neglected to invite anyone such as Yale professor, Dr. Robert Rosenheck, who said "There was never any evidence that warranted the amount of money we spend on atypicals," he said. "If you look at it independently, it is very clear the results say there is no benefit'' to atypicals (newer antipsychotics) over typicals. (older antipsychotics)
The cost to Florida taxpayers for these new atypical antipsychotic drugs over the last 5 years? $1.1 BILLION. These "new" antipsychotics at $8 per pill are no more "effective" than the older antipsychotic drugs such as Haldol and Thorazine at 5 cents per pill and have just as many horrendous side effects.
Naturally we had to follow the money
No comments:
Post a Comment