Off the cuff
The whole notion of off-label uses for patent drugs is one I find disturbing enough: Too many drugs pose serious risks when they're taken for their INTENDED purpose. But when doctors start turning Alzheimer's patients into their own personal chemistry experiments, I think it crosses the lines of both professionalism and morality. Last November, I told you about how the manufacturers of VeriChip are preying on the fears of Alzheimer's patients and their families in order to garner support for their controversial medical identification implant (11/12/07 eTip, subject line: "Chip shot"). Now it looks like some doctors are following that lead and turning Alzheimer's patients there into human lab rats to test what might happen when they give the patients random drugs. In one specific example I came across recently, doctors in California have, as the article I read put it, "devised a novel approach" of treating Alzheimer's patients with a patented arthritis drug. But that "novel approach" involves injecting the drug into the patients' necks, then tilting them to encourage the drug-laden blood to rush to the head. Sounds more like an improvisation made by a curious TV medical drama writer than a carefully laid out treatment protocol made by a skilled physician if you ask me. To be fair, they have actually had some success -- so far. But who knows what the long- term results will be? Maybe I'm too much of a label reader, but, given that this drug, called etanercept, is intended to be injected into the thigh, stomach, or upper arm -- all generally very fleshy areas -- it seems quite a leap of faith to assume it's safe to deviate from that recommended use and inject it instead into the neck. And that's just the first safety concern to spring to my mind. I'm sure I could come up with at least a dozen more, but the point is this is a risky venture. One I'm not sure it's quite fair to take on patients whose cognitive and decision-making abilities are drastically impaired and whose families are desperate to get back some glimmer of the person they love. And putting Alzheimer's patients at risk for those yet-to-be-determined dangers is even more unjust when you consider that there's a safe, completely natural substance already proven to make a substantial difference in Alzheimer's disease. Dr. Wright has written about the benefits of the mineral lithium numerous times over the years, most recently in the April 2008 issue of Nutrition & Healing. To read this issue, subscribers can visit the Nutrition & Healing website (www.wrightnewsletter.com) and access the Archives by entering the username and password listed on page 8 of your most recent newsletter. Source:
"Hope over US Alzheimer's therapy," BBC News (www.news.bbc.co.uk), 4/11/08 | 
