AstraZeneca Wins!

Astrazeneca is the company responsible for Seroquel which is an antipsychotic medication. This medicine is in the same category as Zyprexa and has some of the same risk profile. These are new medications meant to treat mental illness - most often schizophrenia. In the past, the medications used to treat this condition would cause Tardive Dyskinesia which is a very noticable movement disorder (think lip smacking).

The new drugs do not seem to cause TD, but they have been associated with significant weight gain and subsequently, diabetes. The concern about blood sugar and insulin resistance is not new and is listed as a side effect on the medication labels. It is something that psychiatrists are encouraged to consider when choosing a medication.

There are active court cases for which both Zyprexa and Seroquel are alleged to have caused plaintiff specific cases of diabetes. In the most recent finding, AtraZeneca was NOT found at fault. Though I am not a fan of medication, nor drug companies, this finding would be acceptable to me, in that, I do not believe drugs make people fat - which is the number one risk factor for the type of diabetes of which these persons are susceptible - but that food does.

There is a chance that these new medications (not so new anymore) do independently cause some amount of insulin resistance - but I expect if that were proven, AstraZeneca would have lost their case. What I do know, because I SAW it with my own eyes, is that people who are put on these medications gain a LOT of weight.

When I worked in the hospital with people who suffered mental illness, I did so as a social worker, not a health education specialist, but I WAS going to graduate school for my MPH at the time. I kept thinking to myself that these patients whom I would see when they returned to the hospital, as they always did, they needed to be TOLD that the medication either slowed their metabolism or increased their hunger, or maybe even turned off the hormone that told them they were full - what ever was happening, the patient HAD to be mindful and change the way that they ate. I don't remember any patient education about this possible side effect.

If nothing else comes from these lawsuits, maybe someone will have the foresight to make educating the patients about calories, physical activity and how attending to both can prevent both weight gain and diabetes a mandatory part of prescribing the medication.