But polarizing figures were still present. Sitting next to outgoing APA president Alan F. Schatzberg, MD, even as protestors chanted outside, was Charles Nemeroff, MD, former psychiatry chairman at Emory University who was investigated by Congress for unreported GlaxoSmithKline income and left his post in disgrace. Nemeroff was signing the Textbook of Psychopharmacology which he co-edited with Schatzberg, also investigated by Congress. Schatzberg, psychiatry chairman at Stanford, consults to seven drug companies, owns stock and patents with others and is on Sanofi-Aventis' Speakers Bureau according to the meeting's Daily Bulletin.
Heading a symposium about schizophrenia was S. Charles Schulz, MD, psychiatry chairman at the University of Minnesota who was investigated for financial links to AstraZeneca believed to alter his scientific conclusions.
Presenting a poster about the benefits of long acting risperidone was Wayne MacFadden, MD, AstraZeneca's US medical director for Seroquel until questions about his alleged sexual affairs with women doing research on the drug arose.
And a paper presented about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was co-written by Harvard's Joseph Biederman, MD, also investigated by Congress for pharma financial links and considered the father of the pediatric bipolar disorder craze.
Despite the pharma thaw, exhibition displays were still pretty gee-whiz with Cymbalta, Seroquel XR, Abilify, Lunesta and Pristiq the most prominent. (A rep struggled to explain to a group from Columbia that Pristiq was not, repeat not, just a more expensive Effexor.) ADHD was also big. "Let's be as brave as the people we serve" said Shire's display, showing a patient's giant, valiant face; an entire children's bedroom was constructed to sell INTUNIV.
But where take-one signs once existed, signs now warned health care providers they may be governed by no gift policies. And whereas glad-handing reps were still eager to answer questions --once they scanned badges for marketing data -- pharmacodynamic and patient care questions were referred to an information booth with a line to, well, see the doctor.
Nor was there a star of the show. The Next Big Thing was not a new drug at all but adjunctive therapy also known as adding existing drugs to existing drugs because they don't work right. Throwing good drugs after bad, popularized with the antipsychotic Abilify, has only been enhanced by a study in the January JAMA that found antidepressants don't work for mild depression at all. Antipsychotics are also being "enhanced" by adding drugs to offset weight gain and lethargic side effects.
No wonder panelists at a forum called "Is a Game Changing Psychotropic Too Much to Expect?" assailed pharma for issuing "me too" drugs and "seat of the pants" drug combinations, calling the industry nothing but a "marketing organization."
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