Friends, at the risk of sounding biased and defensive about a company
and an industry my dh works for, I'd like to clarify a few things.

Someone said,
<< It appears increasingly common for companies to "re-release" drugs
under
a new name in order to have a brand-name on the market.  One nice
example is fluoxetine.

Those of us in the US know it as the brand name Prozac, manufactured by
Dista Products.  It has been out in generic form for quite a while.
Eli/Lilly has released it under the name Sarafem as treatment for
premenstrual dysphoric disorder.  Same exact drug, new name.>>

Dista which manufactures Prozac is an Eli Lilly company.  The drug was
created, patented and marketed by Lilly.  It has been off-patent for 2-3
years or so.  What that meant to this company is that it experienced a
loss of revenue by millions of dollars a month in the space of about 2
months when the generics came out.  That's a major blow to any company.
Consider that they spent 10-15 years in development bringing the drug to
market, then lost their profit from it just a relatively few years after
it hit the market.  Yes, it is common practice for drug companies that
when one of their blockbuster drugs goes off-patent, they try to find
ways to compensate, sometimes by marketing the drug for a different
indication.  However, they can only do this if the drug has been through
clinical trials for that indication.  As for Claritin, though it isn't a
Lilly drug, I can imagine that someone who doesn't usually have problems
with allergies might not know that hives are an allergic response and
that, therefore, an antihistamine drug would help.  Again, it would have
to have been tested for specifically that indication for it to be
marketed that way.

Folks, not to get too off-topic here but can we stop denouncing
pharmaceutical companies?  Companies are in business to make money after
all, and pharmaceutical companies are no different than any other.  They
have nothing to do with breastfeeding generally, unless they also
produce infant formulas. *Those* are the tactics we should be
discussing!  BTW, this started as a discussion about why Domperidone
will probably not be approved in the US.  I hope you all have a better
understanding of *why* now!

This is just an editorial comment and somewhat OT, so I'd better stop
before the listmommies get out the ruler!  ;-)

Marsha, who is thankful for Prozac which I credit with saving my
marriage!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future
generations as all other earthly causes combined.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~John S. C. Abbot~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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