Posted by Tomatheus on November 28, 2007, at 4:11:30
In reply to Re: NY Times article - 'Dr. Drug Rep' » jrbecker76, posted by rvanson on November 27, 2007, at 0:51:50
> Yeap, and they were constantly in the waiting room of my last Pdoc, back when they were "pushing" Abilify on unipolar depressives like me, off label, making his patients wait even longer to see the Phd pill-pushing dealer.
Actually, it is now legal for pharmaceutical reps to promote Abilify for the add-on treatment of major depressive disorder because the FDA recently approved the medication for the aforementioned use:
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/prnewswire/NYTU06120112007-1.htm
Assuming that the reps were promoting Abilify for unipolar depression before it received FDA approval as an add-on treatment for the condition, then they would indeed have been engaging in the illegal practice of marketing a medication for an off-label use. I find it amazing -- but not entirely surprising -- that this practice (reportedly) continues to take place.
Tomatheus
poster:Tomatheus
thread:797163
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20071125/msgs/797399.html