The History of ... the ... of mankind, mental illness has played a role in our society. Victims of such ... have been outcast, ... and often ... However, over time,
The History of Zyprexa
Since the beginning of mankind, mental illness has played a role in our society. Victims of such illnesses have been outcast, stereotyped and often ridiculed. However, over time, medical and psychiatric science advanced and the medical community became more knowledgeable of these conditions.
It wasn’t until the 20th century when scientists began to experiment with certain chemicals that would alleviate symptoms caused by neurological disorders such as schizophrenia. These drugs are called antipsychotics and they block certain chemical receptors in the brain. At first these drugs were praised in the medical community, however case studies began to show that long term effects of these drugs caused patients to develop serious coordination problems. Since the benefits often times outweighed the risks, doctors continued to prescribe these drugs to their patients.
A creation of a new drug with reduced side effects was created in 1989. This drug was called Cloarzil a so called ‘atypical’ antipsychotic. Unlike previous drugs, Cloarzil was designed to block certain chemicals, while leaving others alone. While it was a breakthrough in the medical community, the drug caused an elevated white blood cell count which interferes with proper immunological functions.
It wasn’t until the mid 90’s that a new drug was introduced. This drug was proven in clinical studies to have the same number of reduced side effects without increasing the patient’s white blood cell count. This new atypical antipsychotic drug called Zyprexa® and was approved by the FDA in 1996. Eli Lily (the drug manufacturer) experienced great financial success with Zyprexa® as sales doubled to $8 billion in 2002-2003. Even though the drug limited the number of side effects such as impaired coordination and motor skills it showed an unexpected increase in diabetes mellitus type II. This type of diabetes has proven to be fatal in a number of patients.
Vinyl Chloride and Angiosarcoma
The chemical Vinyl Chloride has been historically known to create a number of health problems for decades even before it was known to cause angiosarcoma. The federal government was aware of the risk of Vinyl Chloride and had regulated workers to only be exposed to 500 ppm (part per million) a day. Because Angiosarcoma takes decades to fully develop, the initial studies of vinyl chloride were observing more obvious conditions like liver disease and degenerative bone disorders. In the late 1960’s the connection between Vinyl Chloride and Angiosarcoma presented itself as B.F. Goodrich workers were exposed to above average rates of the chemical. These workers had much higher rates of developing liver angiosarcoma. More studies were conducted after this initial discovery because it seemed strange that such a large number of workers in one plant could suffer from such a rare disease by coincidence.
Duragesic Pain Patch Recall
Last year on April 5th, 2004 Janssen Pharmaceutical Products announced that it was recalling several of their popular Duragesic pain control patches because of a major flaw that caused leakage of the active chemical fetanyl. One edge of the patch leaked fetanyl into the bloodstream, which is a chemical 100 times more potent than conventional morphine. Fetanyl is mostly used to combat the acute and debilitating pain that comes along with many forms of cancer. This recall affected almost 2.2 million patches and about 20% of those patches were still in active use.
Breast Augmentation - Cosmetic Surgery
The breast augmentation procedure is becoming more and more popular. There are three approaches to this procedure and your surgeon will help you decide which technique is best for you.
