Antidepressants podcast: comments on the latest ACP clinical guidelines

Essential Evidence Plus, formerly InfoPOEMs is a service by John Wiley and Sons that aims to give physicians succinct medical evidence that will impact in their medical practice. In this podcast Dr. Ebell and Dr. Wilkes (National Public Radio) discuss the POEM that analyzes the ACP guidelines (published in Annals of Internal Medicine) on antidepressants. […]

Direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA): the case of the serotonin hypothesis and SSRIs ads

I would like to recommend Pharmamotion readers one of the most popular articles in PLoS Medicine: Serotonin and Depression: A Disconnect between the Advertisements and the Scientific Literature. Jeffrey R. Lacasse, Jonathan Leo The article is a definitely a must read for those interested in direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) issues. However,for those who don’t have enough […]

EMEA reviewed methylphenidate (Ritalin) for ADHD and issued recommendations for its safer use

EMEA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has reviewed methylphenidate for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Quoting the press release issued 22 January 2009: The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has concluded that methylphenidate-containing medicines remain suitable for the treatment of children aged six years or older and adolescents with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It has […]

Atypical antipsychotics and sudden cardiac death: medical media coverage

This is a compilation of the media impact of the recent paper published in the NEJM: Atypical Antipsychotic Drugs and the Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death. Atypical antipsychotics (Second generation antipsychotics) include: Clozapine (Clozaril),Olanzapine (Zyprexa),Risperidone (Risperdal), Quetiapine (Seroquel), Ziprasidone (Geodon), Amisulpride (Solian), Paliperidone (Invega) Physician’s First Watch Antipsychotics Increase Risks for Sudden Cardiac Death

Sertraline (Zoloft and associated names): review by the CHMP

The CHMP has issued a question and answer document dated 18 December 2008, about the review of sertraline (Zoloft and associated names) Questions and answers on the referral for Zoloft – Sertraline Hard capsules and Film coated tablets – 25 mg, 50 mg, and 100 mg Concentrate for oral solution – 20 mg/ml The European […]

Varenicline (Champix) psychiatric adverse effects: recommendations to patients from Health Canada

Health Canada has issued  an information update about varenicline (Champix), giving some recommendations to patients: Information Update 2009-01 January 6, 2009 For immediate release OTTAWA – Health Canada is reminding Canadians who are taking, or considering taking, the smoking-cessation aid Champix of important safety information for this product. Health Canada is also informing Canadians that […]

Serotonin syndrome

Serotonin syndrome is a predictable clinical feature that involves excess serotonergic agonism of central nervous system (CNS) receptors and peripheral serotonergic receptors. The following PowerPoint was published on Stanford School of Medicine’s Scalpel: Serotoninn syndrome features Download: Serotonin syndrome PPT file MedExcel posted recently a mnemonic to remember the clinical components of serotonin syndrome Causes HARM: […]

Lithium side effects mnemonic

Lithium: side effects LITH: Leukocytosis Insipidus [diabetes insipidus, tied to polyuria] Tremor/ Teratogenesis Hypothyroidism Thanks to MedExcel

Quetiapine extended release tablets (Seroquel XR): efficacy, tolerability and adherence.

Information about quetiapine extended release tablets, from the National Prescribing Service RADAR “There is no evidence that extended-release tablets improve efficacy, tolerability or adherence Once-daily dosing with quetiapine extended-release tablets is equivalent to twice-daily dosing with quetiapine immediate-release tablets, e.g. quetiapine extended release 600 mg once daily is equivalent to quetiapine immediate release 300 mg […]

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