Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

Zyprexa Warning in Older Adults

Lilly Issues Warning on Zyprexa in Use in Elderly with Dementia - The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that: "Zyprexa, a blockbuster antipsychotic medicine often used to calm elderly people with dementia, can increase the risk of strokes and death in those patients, according to a letter sent to physicians by Eli Lilly & Co. This warning echo's an announcement by Johnson & Johnson's on its own schizophrenia drug, Risperdal, back in April' 2003.

The Lilly letter said there was a "significantly higher" incidence of stroke among these patients, but didn't quantify it any further. The letter also said elderly patients in the Zyprexa group of the studies had a higher incidence of deaths of all types, 3.5% compared with 1.5% in the placebo group."

A Lilly spokesman stated that the use of Zyprexa in elderly with dementia accounts for a small portion, about 2%, of total sales. Zyprexa sales were $4.3 billion last year, or almost a third of the Indianapolis drug maker's annual sales.

New Movie On Schizophrenia coming out of India
"FIRST there was A Beautiful Mind and now there is going to be Devrai. While it may be too early to draw comparisons between the classic and one just gone on the floors, what raises hopes is that it?s a movie being directed by national award winners Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhtankar with the project being initiated by the Schizophrenia Association of India (SAI).

What is schizophrenia? How does a person suffering from this illness cope with life? How does society treat this person? These and several other questions will be answered in Devrai.

Funded by the Maharashtra Seva Samiti Organisation (Canada) and the Canadian International Development Agency as part of the reach-out programme of SAA, this film will be aimed at restoring hope and self-reliance among patients with schizophrenia. "

On the schizophrenia research front - good news in Asia. HK, China scientists to set up brain bank for the study of schizophrenia and other brain diseases. Perhaps some western researchers will partner with them to speed the process of discovery.

The People's Daily Article stated that:

"Scientists in Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland will establish a pioneering Chinese brain bank to help lab researchers learn more about human brains and diseases, a university spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Researchers hope to sign up people from Hong Kong and mainland who are willing to donate their gray matter to science after they die and also willing to share personal medical and psychological information that will help in the studies.

The scientists believe that data will make their work more meaningful, said Janet Yeung, a University of Hong Kong spokeswoman.

``It's difficult to analyze the brain specimens without such information,'' she said.

Research on brain samples has led to important findings on afflictions including schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, the university said." Another article on this is at the BBC Web site

In more news on the Schizophrenia Research Front - Norway has announced a major research study on brain disorders (including schizophrenia) in Children.

A Norwegian newspaper stated that:

"We hope to eventually include 100,000 pregnancies. Currently we have 34,000 mothers, 27,000 children born and 27,000 fathers. The reason we have fewer fathers is that we began to include them at a later date," said Camilla Stoltenberg, divisional director at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and one of the project planners.

The study will at first concentrate on seeking possible causes of autism, which is becoming increasingly common around the world. The second stage of the project will examine ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), serious depression and schizophrenia.

Indicators such as health, lifestyle, diet, social and economic factors will be charted via questionnaires, interviews and blood tests. "