
Patients' Drug Options Under Medicaid Heavily Influenced by Drugmakers - notadoc
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/18/629575118/medicaid-under-the-influence-how-drugmakers-sway-medication-options-for-patients
======
tcj_phx
Most of these drugs are just expensive patent medicines.

> Since Ramadan joined the committee, the drugs Invega Sustenna and Abilify
> Maintena have always made the preferred list.

These two drugs are atypical antipsychotics. They are palliative drugs that
are prescribed to hopefully prevent patients from further deterioration, but
experience has shown they don't work very well [0].

Abilify's patent expired in 2014. Ability Maintena is a still-patented
injected form of this drug that sells for $1000/injection.

Injected drugs of this class are used because patients don't appreciate
Abilify's side effects (compulsive behavior, etc). When a court orders people
to submit to their psychiatrist, the doctor doesn't have to care if the
patient is actually being helped by their forced treatment.

[0] [https://www.madinamerica.com/2018/07/new-research-
suggests-b...](https://www.madinamerica.com/2018/07/new-research-suggests-
brain-abnormalities-schizophrenia-result-antipsychotic-drugs/)

