Posted by redbeach on August 27, 2006, at 14:03:39
In reply to Dopaminergic-based pharmacotherapies for Depressio, posted by psychobot5000 on August 27, 2006, at 13:07:02
I wouldnt hold your breath about dopamine based treatments. Get too much dopamine activity and people can become addicted, to all sorts of things such as gambling. Dopamine is so closely linked to the science of addiction that the FDA will never allow it. There was a dopamine based anti depressent but it was killed off by the FDA. Not because it isnt effective, believe me it can be for some people, but rather the legal nightmare when people sue when they lose money due to gambling addictions. Of course its an extreme minority who have problems however thanks to lawyers who will sue to the max you will never see an effective dopamine agonist or upate inhibitor that is marketed for depression. However if yiou can convince your docter that you have parkinsons then you might be in luck.
While in ranting mode, I might as well add after the Vioxx scandal, the chances of any effective medication coming out is about nil. I could well believe that in future pharmaceutical companies will promote products that have less chance of courting legal proceeding due to side effects rather than how efficient it is. I know that the makers of Paroxetine SKG actually found a more effective product but refused to market it due to the fact that it had to be taken twice a day to be effective. Once again, the customer comes last and marketing men win. The whole pharmaceutical industry is in a sad state of affairs. This has just been reinforced even more by Vioxx as mentioned before. Fewer products are coming on line than ever. This is not due to lack of research or effort, but more for the impossible job of finding an affective product with no side affects. I have given up waiting for a solution from the pharmaceutical industry. I now take St John's Wort, which ironically does have a dopamine reuptake inhibitor, which works more effectively for me than any other drug prescribed to me. I do believe though, that there are more effective solutions out there, but many of them will never be made. For example, some of the isolated compounds out of St John's Wort are effective and are worthy of further research. However, since you cannot put copyright a chemical found in nature, no pharmaceutical company will show interest. No money to be made, so no product for you or me. As someone who staunchly believes in capitalism, I believe that it is a process that is failing in regards to drug research wholy due to legatious lawyers. Anyway, that's enough ranting for me for one day!
Cheers
Redbeach
poster:redbeach
thread:680536
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060825/msgs/680547.html