At 10 to 20 times the price, you might think a new class of drugs would have to be a lot better than the old ones. But since this is a case of Big Pharma "helping" people with schizophrenia, you would, of course, be wrong.
For a while, evidence has been collected suggesting that people with schizophrenia are being bamboozled by drug companies into paying exorbitant prices for new drugs that promised fewer side effects than established ones. Piece by piece, studies and evidence reviews added up to a conclusion made pretty final by a new government-sponsored study.
Costing 10 to 20 times more than old standbys like Haldol and Thorazine, the "second-generation" drugs like Risperdal, Zyprexa and Seroquel have now been shown to be no more effective. Because the government pays most of the bills for antipsychotic medicines, the only actual negative side effect of the new drugs over the old is the disappearance of about $10 billion a year from the U.S. Treasury and its reappearance as black ink on the earnings statements of Big Pharma.
It was also reported earlier this year that the state of West Virginia is planning an experiment to improve health behavior of stubborn Medicaid recipients by providing noncompliers fewer benefits than those who take responsibility for improving their own health.
Among the effects of this policy now about to go into effect in three counties is denying equal coverage to the impoverished mentally ill, those least able to comply with medical direction and those most in need of it.
According to the New York Times, this Dickensian scheme may not even save the federal and state Scrooges much money.