Texas has spent nearly $300 million since 2003 on expensive anti-psychotic medications for poor children, according to a new federal study. The drugs cost more, have worse side effects in kids and are no more effective than older generics.
“The drugs, known as atypical anti-psychotics, are designed to treat schizophrenia but are also used for everything from autism to attention deficit disorder. Pharmaceutical firms have aggressively marketed the drugs to child psychiatrists and state health officials,” says the Dallas Morning News, which notes prescriptions for kids have increased fivefold in the last 15 years.
“States have spent a tremendous amount of money unnecessarily for drugs that are no safer than the older drugs that are a fraction of the cost,” said Allen Jones, a Pennsylvania whistleblower who investigates drug company influence tells the paper. “It appears, based on what the science is telling us, that an enormous amount of money was spent for no real benefit.”
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