Posted by sunnydays on December 9, 2007, at 15:15:48
In reply to How Can a Pdoc Rx a med Above the Drug co's Max?, posted by Phillipa on December 9, 2007, at 12:27:47
Perfectly legal. Just like docs will prescribe drugs so-called 'off-label' for things they know the drug works for but the drug company hasn't specifically gotten approval on. For one thing, Lamictal is only approved for bipolar I and epilepsy, I believe, but is commonly prescribed off-label for help with both bipolar II and unipolar depression. There's nothing wrong with doing that. I suppose there may be some risk, but I wouldn't think side effects would be any different for people, it just may not work as well.
As for why... well, because from their clinical experience the drug has seemed to be safe and effective for whatever purpose they are prescribing it for. I would much rather see a physician willing to prescribe me what was most likely to work rather than running out of options because they stuck strictly to the label.
sunnydays
poster:sunnydays
thread:799733
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071204/msgs/799762.html