At the moment, this trend is only tangentially-related to the topics this blog covers, as asenapine -- branded as Saphris® (a legacy Schering-Plough atypical antipsychotic) -- was not part of the December 8, 2009 portfolio of reviewed drugs, by the FDA Pediatric Advisory Committee (as a too-newly approved agent to have meaningful pediatric trend data), but it is where asenapine is headed, no doubt -- as Salmon has long warned us. This is a summary slide, from page 19 of the FDA slide deck:
. . . .Antipsychotic use among pediatric patients has increased by 22% over the 5 years. The greatest increase was seen for aripiprazole, during this time period.
Use among pediatrics aged 0-2 years and 3-6 years accounted for less than 1% of the total for each of the antipsychotic agents studied.
Risperidone had the most prescriptions dispensed (26%) to pediatric patients and had a greater amount of use in younger children compared to theother antipsychotics. Aripiprazolehad the second highest number of dispensed prescriptions (23%) in the pediatric population. . . .
As Salmon has repeatedly warned us -- there is a storm brewin' -- with respect to kids, now on Saphris, in the United States and Europe. It may take five years to materialize in full. . . but it is coming -- like a long, slow (but potentially-deadly) freight train, in the cold night.
2 comments:
Thank you for this update. You're right the numbers are alarming, but it's really the numbers other than the 22% increase in usage.
For example most usage is not for any approved adult indication but rather indications that are rather nebulous such as behavior.
Even use in approved indications show that greater percentage of children are prescribed these drugs for indications that are approved in adults than the percentage of adults who have these illnesses.
Salmon
Indeed, thanks, Salmon. . . .
Happy Holidays!
Namaste
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