60 Percent Of Antipsychotic Use In VA Off-Label
A new study out in Psychiatric Services asserts that a full 60 percent of antipsychotics prescribed in the VA system in 2007 were being prescribed off-label and, in my opinion, for conditions for which there is little scientific evidence supporting their use. These drugs are known to be dangerous, so you’ve got to wonder what the hell is going on at the VA and just how much illegal marketing pharma companies have engaged in to create this situation. The study most prominently identifies the off-label use of Seroquel and Risperdal.
Here’s the stunner to me:
“The most common mental illness diagnoses among patients given prescriptions for antipsychotics off label were posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD, 41.8%), minor depression (39.5%), major depression (23.4%), and anxiety disorder (20.0%).”
Seroquel and Risperdal simply aren’t approved for those conditions. The study states that 279,778 people in 2007 got antipsychotic medication, 168,442 of them off-label. I know the VA gets deeply discounted prices and that the doses were on the small side, according to study authors, so let’s assume that each of these 168,442 patients ran up $100 a month in antipsychotic expense to the VA system each month (that $100 might be low). That would work out to $202,106,400 in 2007 for off-label use of these drugs in the VA system. And people wonder why health care costs so much.
Over 168,000 people is a large group to give risky drugs to with little evidence of their effectiveness. That these are military veterans pisses me off immensely.
Even the study’s authors conclude:
“Given that these drugs are expensive, have potentially severe side effects, and have limited evidence supporting their effectiveness for off-label usage, they should be used with greater caution.”
Or maybe not used at all.
Someone has got to look into this situation because I smell a rat. The DOJ has pushed on the pharma companies over off-label marketing within the Medicare/Medicaid system, so it would stand to reason that they should have a look-see here as well. I know that Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) continues to look into off-label marketing, among other things. I hope he decides to press the appropriate parties for information on what’s going on here. I think our veterans deserve that.
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Posted in Furious Seasons