The new �miracle� neuroleptics (or �atypical antipsychotics�) have not lived up to the media and professional hype. Their story goes way beyond mere false advertising for the sake of maximizing profits.

Using the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), science writer Robert Whitaker learned that the atypical drug trials did not support industry claims that the latest neuroleptics were safer or more effective than existing ones: One in every 145 patients who entered the trials died, and yet those deaths were never mentioned in the scientific literature and one in every 35 patients in trials for one atypical experienced a serious adverse event, defined by the FDA as a life-threatening event or one that required hospitalization.

In 2000, the British Medical Journal published the results of a multi-year study by Dr. John Geddes who had reviewed independent clinical trials involving over 12,000 patients, examining the effectiveness and dangers of the atypical and typical antipsychotics. The result: �There is no clear evidence that atypical antipsychotics are more effective or are better tolerated than conventional antipsychotics.�

A study by Yale researchers published in the November 2003 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association also found no statistically or clinically significant advantages of these new drugs.

In 2003 the New York Times effectively retracted its earlier high praise for these antipsychotics, stating, �They were billed as near wonder drugs, much safer and more effective in treating schizophrenia than anything that had come before.�
However, now �there is increasing suspicion that they may cause serious side effects, notably diabetes, in some cases leading to death.� Between 1994 and 2002, 288 patients taking the new antipsychotics developed diabetes; 75 became severely ill and 23 died.

The New York Times also referred to what had been known for more than 20 years, that one of these drugs had a record of causing a life-threatening blood disorder, and that patients required regular blood tests to monitor this side effect,
adding to its expense .

Some of the newer drugs may be linked to pancreatitis, the article also said. Weight gain was a problem, with some patients gaining up to 65 pounds. Studies show that when patients stopped taking these drugs, they improved.

Rather than fewer side effects, the newer antipsychotics have more severe side effects. These include blindness, fatal blood clots, heart arrhythmia, heat stroke, swollen and leaking breasts, impotence and sexual dysfunction, blood disorders, painful skin rashes, seizures, birth defects, extreme inner-anxiety and restlessness, death from liver failure, suicide rates two to five times more frequent than for the general �schizophrenic� population, and violence and mayhem, especially in young patients.

Nor are physical effects the extent of the problem. Many patients complain that the drugs are spiritually deadening, robbing them of any sense of joy, of their willpower, and of their sense of being. While the exact danger and side effect profiles have changed, the atypical neuroleptics still operate as a �chemical lobotomy.�

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