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Saturday, October 27, 2012

New psychiatric drugs low priority for pharmaceutical firms

CBC News
Originally posted October 12, 2012

The pharmaceutical industry has largely abandoned drug development for mental illnesses even though depression is a leading cause of disability, experts say.

Authors of papers published in this week's issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine argue that drug discovery for treating psychiatric disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression are at a near standstill.

"Antipsychotics and antidepressants have been some of the most profitable agents for companies over the last two decades," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health and one of the authors.

"But that doesn't mean they're effective. What it means is that they sell and they can be marketed."

In the last five decades, more than 20 antipsychotics and 30 antidepressants have been marketed with over $25 billion in sales in the U.S. in 2011 alone, Insel said.

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"The central problem is clear: Neither vast unmet medical need, nor large and growing markets, nor concerted sales campaigns that attempt to recast 'me-too drugs' as innovative can illuminate a path across very difficult scientific terrain," Hyman wrote.

The entire story is here.