Seroquel More Dangerous than Manufacturer Disclosed (UPDATE)
Boston – According to an article published in Reuters on Friday, February 27, thousands of people are suing AstraZeneca in connection with its drug, Seroquel, and with good reason.
Seroquel, which is mainly used for people with schizophrenia, was marketed as a safe and effective drug to physicians (mainly psychiatrists) and their patients.
According to the article, Ed Blizzard, an attorney for the plaintiffs in one of the cases brought against the drug manufacturer, AstraZeneca, asserts that there is a real risk of diabetes–a risk that the manufacturer was aware of as early as 2000–stemming from use of the drug.
It is unclear from the article as a whole, however, whether the risk of diabetes is a result of the also undisclosed risk of weight gain, which is well known to be a factor in patients’ getting diabetes, or whether there is a risk of diabetes even in cases where the patients manage to control their weight.
Mr. Blizzard and other attorneys base their claim on “unsealed” documents–including e-mails–that AstraZeneca had kept hidden from physicians and the public. AstraZeneca’s spokesman, Tony Jewell, has said that the company had always furnished appropriate information, and the implication is that the many suits being brought against the company are groundless. Seroquel is a multibillion industry for AstraZeneca.
However, it appears from the Reuters article that the attorneys suing AstraZeneca are on safe ground at least in relation to the claim about weight gain.
The suits against AstraZeneca take on an added importance because of the heretofore widespread belief that Seroquel is a benign and safe drug, which physicians could prescribe without qualms. Until the developments described above, psychiatrists would prescribe Seroquel routinely and without seeing a need to warn their patients of deleterious side effects. In fact, although the Reuters article stated that Seroquel is a drug for schizophrenia, it’s also a fact that psychiatrists use Seroquel for other psychiatric disorders.
It is extremely common for psychiatrists who treat bipolar patients (bipolar is a disorder, once known as manic depression, which involves violent mood swings from high to low) to use Seroquel, because of the psychiatrists’ belief that Seroquel has mood stabilizing properties.
The issues at stake in the lawsuits against AstraZeneca are therefore extremely serious, as tens of thousands of psychiatric patients of differing diagnoses are currently taking Seroquel in ignorance of any purported dangerous effects.
These patients rely on their doctors to prescribe safe medications, and physicians typically rely on drug companies to supply them with accurate information about their drugs. This case raises questions about the safety not only of Seroquel, but of the whole, much ballyhooed, generation of new psychiatric drugs. The question is, can the whole system be trusted?