Tricyclic Antidepressants

How much Prozac do p's need?

Question:

Hi me…!                                   "Cheap Prozac" WASHINGTON (CNN) — Five pharmaceutical companies received letters from the Food and Drug Administration Thursday granting them the right to sell fluoxetine, the lower-priced generic version of the popular antidepressant Prozac. The patent on the drug, held by Eli Lilly, expires at midnight. The five laboratories were given exclusive rights to produce different version of fluoxetine for six months. Barr Laboratories, which went to court to end the patent, will have exclusive rights to produce 20-mg capsules, which account for $2.2 billion of the current $2.7 billion Prozac market. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories will produce 40-mg capsules, Teva Pharmaceuticals will produce 20-mg liquid fluoxetine, Geneva Pharmaceuticals will manufacture 10-mg capsules, and Pharmaceutical Resources will make 10- and 20-mg tablets. Barr said some pharmacies may receive shipments of the drug Friday. The 90-mg weekly dosage of Prozac remains exclusive to Lilly, under a "new chemical exclusivity." Serafem, a version of fluoxetine for treatment of severe PMS, remains exclusive to Eli Lilly until 2007. The patent on Prozac was to have expired February 2, but the FDA extended it six months because Lilly was conducting research on using the drug in children. Prozac is not approved by the FDA for children but it is widely prescribed off-label for childhood depression, obsessive compulsive disorders, anxiety, and some eating disorders. The extension expired Thursday. An appeals court last month ruled against Lilly’s request for another extension. Lilly has 90 days to petition the U.S. Supreme Court to hear arguments for continued exclusive rights to the drug. The company said loss of the patent will not harm the company’s bottom line. "We’ve been preparing for this day for a long time. We feel we are well prepared," Lilly spokesman Ed West said in a statement. "We have a clearly articulated strategy for success in the future that has yielded the industry’s strongest pipeline of new products, 10 of which will be introduced over the next two to three years. So, the future looks very, very bright." West said Lilly plans to introduce two other antidepressants next year. Barr would not say how much it will charge for the 20-mg capsules. Lilly’s brand-name version costs $2.50 per capsule. Observers say that after the six-month exclusivity, competition from other manufacturers could drop the price to as low as 25 cents a pill. Prozac, patented in 1977 and launched in 1987, is one of the biggest-selling drugs in history. According to the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, it was the fourth-largest selling drug in the United States last year and is one of the biggest-selling drugs to go off patent. If Lilly decides to petition the Supreme Court, Barr would have 30 days to file an opposition brief and the Supreme Court would have another 10 days to decide whether to hear the case. Lilly acknowledged it is unlikely the nation’s high court would overturn the appellate court’s ruling. Gosh! I heard that over 80% of prozac’ers have switched to the generic already. Anyone want to find out how many of em have lowered their P? And what happens if they don’t? Maybe they freak out. And go postal! Excerpts from some researchers concerning side effects from Prozac .. .I have spoken to XXXXX, and he does seem straight up. At first I thought the whole ‘Prozac causes violence and suicide’ was hyped up, but he has persuaded me otherwise. A key experiment was giving Prozac to a small number of healthy volunteers and closely questioning them  - a large minority did experience agitation for beyond the usual week or so Eli LIlly claimed. When appearing as an expert witness in one of the US cases he manged to get the chance to trawl the records of unpublished SSRI trials and found GlaxoSmithKline had noted the self same thing years ago when they gave such compounds to healthy volunteers from among their manufacturing personnel (actually I think they were just Glaxo back then). In addition the evidence on Seroxat (paroxetine) having a withdrawal syndrome (contrary to manufacturers assertions) is looking very good indeed – at least the WHO are now saying Seroxat is their least favourite SSRI citing this as a reason, and there have been some case studies published on it. In the UK the Medicines Control Agency has persuaded SSRI manufacturers to be more explicit about this possible side effect in the patient leaflet, and has asked GPs to be extra careful about questioning depressives on suicidal thoughts if they are given this type of anti-depressant. Last time I spoke to xxxx he was suggesting that as there are different types of depression there should be far more thought put into what an appropriate pill for an individual patient is – lots of folk have done very well on Prozac and allied drugs, others still do fine on tricyclics (though they are far from being a recommended treatment these days) and others that intefere more with noradrenalin than sertonin pathways. This has been touted by some drug cos as a selling point for NASSA and NARI drugs, but there does seem to be something in it. Problem is of course many general physicians are poor enough at spotting and treating any depression, let alone making the subtle diagnostic distinctions required for this approach. I will see if I still have my last report on the situation knocking about on my computer (very bad at organising DBs) and give you contact details if wanted. end Oh well, looks like the anti depression cure is another downer… its over 66% cheaper now… thats a plus… yet i figure i’ll stay with 5HTP from milk and turkey for the time BEING… I’ve always wanted to find out good demographics on the amount and severity of P depression… even though i’ve had it for over forty five years… and other skin boo boo’s prior to that.. i’ve never felt down… a bit ticked off now and then… a few invectives may have passed my lips… i could write those off as talking with G i suppose… And for you youngsters that Ecstasy stuff depletes the serotonin in your brains as fast as the legal stuff… so steer clear.. its a bum rap… Say, has anyone had a major flare recently? I want to test out www.thewholewhey.com on some  willing non depressed p person.. Wholistically yours, – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Hi Graham, > I was wondering how your doing seeing as I know you cleared down to > 0-1 > on the hoover scale… discounting the normal everyday processing… > So, > fess up… are you 100%, 90%… or ..gulp.. below.. i may go totally > vegetar- > ian based on this response… my carnivorous persona is in your > hands.. > save the critters.. (if god hadn’t meant for us to eat animals, why > did he > make them outa meat?…. and if veggie tarians love animals so much, > why do > they eat their food?) is my humor dry enough for a brit? > Well, i do hope and pray your 100% clear… i may save a few cows and > flip- > pers myself…and on the bright side.. i may knock out that pesky last > 15-25%. > What am i going to do then..? Your still here.. and if your brain sans > flaky > bod can remain.. maybe i will have to stay… > Every day, when i slurp my shooter of FSO.. i toast.. to the God of > clearing.. > Sorry d-W, otherwise i am in limbo.. whoops, another major slip.. just > kidding. > So, has anyone done anything with virgin coconut oil? Or, gone over to > check > out www.thewholewhey.com? Or done really well with the sun? Or starved > themselves to 80% clearing? Bought it yet?

Response:

Hi Graham, I was wondering how your doing seeing as I know you cleared down to 0-1 on the hoover scale… discounting the normal everyday processing… So, fess up… are you 100%, 90%… or ..gulp.. below.. i may go totally vegetar- ian based on this response… my carnivorous persona is in your hands.. save the critters.. (if god hadn’t meant for us to eat animals, why did he make them outa meat?…. and if veggie tarians love animals so much, why do they eat their food?) is my humor dry enough for a brit? Well, i do hope and pray your 100% clear… i may save a few cows and flip- pers myself…and on the bright side.. i may knock out that pesky last 15-25%. What am i going to do then..? Your still here.. and if your brain sans flaky bod can remain.. maybe i will have to stay… Every day, when i slurp my shooter of FSO.. i toast.. to the God of clearing.. Sorry d-W, otherwise i am in limbo.. whoops, another major slip.. just kidding. So, has anyone done anything with virgin coconut oil? Or, gone over to check out www.thewholewhey.com? Or done really well with the sun? Or starved themselves to 80% clearing? Bought it yet?

Response:

Filed under: Tricyclic Antidepress