We’re really scratching our heads with this one.
As we noted yesterday, St. John’s wort is not an effective treatment for attention deficit disorder (ADHD). Okay. That’s fine. But when we looked through the literature to try and figure out why anyone would think St. …
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Thanks for the followup. And the bull’s eye. Eli Lilly is among the pharmaceutical companies that underwrite the research and clinical trials in which Dr. Biederman is the principal investigator. Including Eli Lilly’s Strattera for ADD/HD (the one that was identified as the messiah of meds and now has the black box warning).
I puttered around with Google for a bit and found that these results – non-efficacy of St. John’s wort in ADHD – were reported in one of the British journals in 2002.
It gets worse and worse.
http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/06/biederman-defender-has-ties-to-biederman/
> > > [QUOTE[ ... Susan Resko, director of the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, told the Times: “I consider Dr. Biederman a true visionary in recognizing this illness in children, and he’s not only saved many lives but restored hope to thousands of families across the country.”
> > >[CONTINUED] “Two points worth noting – a major donor to the foundation is Johnson & Johnson, which sells Risperdal, a drug that was approved only last August to treat children 10 years and older with bipolar disorder. Also, Biederman is the first person listed on the foundation’s advisory council.” [END]
And worse and worse.
http://www.psychiatrist.com/pcc/visuals/disc.htm
Physicians Post Graduate Press, Inc. (collection of published, peer-reviewed journal articles that posts disclosures of funding)
> > > [QUOTE] Dr. Biederman has received research support from:
Shire Richwood
Eli Lilly
Wyeth
Pfizer
Cephalon
Novartis
Janssen
Noven Pharmaceutical
Stanley Foundation National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, and
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA);
[CONTINUED] [He] is a member of the speakers bureaus for GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis, Wyeth, Shire Richwood, ALZA, and Cephalon; and is a member of the advisory boards for Eli Lilly, Celltech, Shire Richwood, Novartis, Noven Pharmaceutical, ALZA, McNeil, and Cephalon. [END]
I can’t describe how let down I feel. ADHD, depression and bipolar are the foundations of who I am. I had always respected Dr. Biederman and viewed him as an advocate and source of unbiased information. I never even knew that he led the Strattera research.
Trust is a fragile thing for me, and he broke it.
To make sure that his drug trumped St. John’s wort, they played with the concepts of science a little. First: they tested an ‘active’ ingredient that they acknowledge was probably inactivated due to oxidation (it got stale): “Hyperforin…quickly…becomes inactive…which is likely what happened…in this trial;” Second: some (but not all) followers of St. John say that it must be harvested at a specific time of its blooming season, but the article makes no mention of this. There are other indicators of poor design, most notably the greater decrease in adhd scores on all measures for the placebo group versus SJW – that’s odd.
im a 38 year old man who was hyperactive as a child, i was put on ritalin and got nasty side effects that still haunt me to this day. ive been reading up on adhd in adults and have come to terms that i never out grew it. which explains alot of my behavior. im married to a wonderful woman and have 3 great daughters. well i have a problem with my temper and put my hands on my wife during an extremely heated fight. i regret it wish it never happened. since that time i started taking st.johns wort to help me control my temper. not only has it calmed me down but i forgot to take a pill and could feel the difference in myself and my wife could see a difference. i am a firm believer in st.johns wort and as long as it keeps my temper manageable i might be able to keep my marrige