Consumer Advocacy Groups Call for a Caution with Abilify

By now we are used to the barrage of advertisements compelling us to talk to our doctors about drugs for everything from menstrual cramps to high cholesterol. But some drug companies can go too far, urging dangerous and unnecessary drugs on consumers using convincing sales pitches. This may be the case with the new ads for Abilify.

Consumer Reports’ AdWatch has released a new critique of the widely aired television commercial for Abilify. Abilify, produced by pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb, is a powerful antipsychotic used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The FDA recently approved Abilify for the treatment of severe depression as well. The new ads target individuals suffering from depression for whom the standard SSRI antidepressants are not sufficient.

AdWatch claims that Abilify is too dangerous, and should only be used as a last resort once the full range of SSRIs has been exhausted. Abilify’s side effects include weight gain, high blood sugar levels that can cause diabetes, decreased white blood cells, a potentially permanent condition called tardive dyskinesia that causes involuntary movement of the limbs, and a full 25% of patients studied developed akathisia, an acute restlessness. Abilify is also 45 times more expensive than most antidepressants.

While AdWatch acknowledges that Abilify can be very beneficial to certain patients, they believe that the ads are a way to expand the drug’s market from the relatively small number of people who suffer from bipolar and schizophrenia to the one in seven adults who experience depression. Since Bristol-Myers Squibb began running the ad, sales for Abilify have rose 33% to $2.4 billion and now other antipsychotic drug manufacturers are scrambling to gain FDA approval for the treatment of depression as well.

AUTHOR: Kristina Canizares

One Response to “Consumer Advocacy Groups Call for a Caution with Abilify”

Posted by Cindy Rodemeyer on October 16th, 2009 at 7:41 PM

I took abilify in November of 2005 and a month later I got full blown Tardive diskinesia and Tardive dystonia. My life is ruined. My uncontrollable movements have crippled me as I feel like a 95 year old. My neck spasms are horrific and to relieve the cramping, I have to receive botox injections. My neurologist confirms that abilify gave me this neurological disorder. I wish I could sue Bristol-Myers for this defective drug that I had received. I look like a freak as my neck stays in a position that goes all the way back.