Restless Drug Companies Promote Little-Known Diseases Posted by Earl Lui at 10/26/06 06:06 PM

Who knew treating "restless leg syndrome" would generate the latest blockbuster drug? The Wall Street Journal Online yesterday reported on how GlaxoSmithKline turned a disease no one had ever heard of into a new $500 million market for one of its old drugs. The article gives a classic case study of just what's wrong with the pharmaceutical industry:

When drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC launched a new medicine for restless-legs syndrome last year, few people had heard of the affliction, and some physicians were skeptical that it even existed.

Today, the drug, Requip, is on track to post sales of $500 million this year, making it one of the fastest-growing drugs in Glaxo's portfolio.

Behind Requip's sales boom is Glaxo's marketing machine, which has persuaded many consumers and physicians to accept restless-legs syndrome, or RLS, as a real condition warranting treatment. Glaxo began its blitz by advertising the disorder to doctors in medical journals months before the company had regulatory approval to begin selling Requip for RLS. Then, it sent specialists to discuss the disease with general practitioners, who usually see RLS sufferers first. It so heavily advertised the drug directly to consumers that some doctors accuse Glaxo of disease mongering.

The article also reveals that Glaxo did not set out to find a treatment for RLS. Instead, Requip was a drug developed to treat Parkinson's Disease. But in an ever more common twist, Glaxo and other drug companies spend more and more resources on finding new uses for old drugs. After all, why bother trying to invent a cure for cancer when it's much more profitable repackaging old drugs for new uses? Requip is just one example of this trend--remember this the next time you hear drug companies brag about how "innovative" they are. And now other drug companies are now following Glaxo's lead and recasting their old drugs as RLS treatments.

The Wall Street Journal Online details Glaxo's marketing machine in action:

Soon after the FDA approved Requip as an RLS treatment in May 2005, Glaxo hired an army of sleep-disorder specialists and invited general practitioners to dinner at fancy restaurants across the U.S. to hear them speak about Requip, some specialists say.

To accompany this physician blitz, Glaxo began reaching out to consumers through TV ads. It spent $36 million on consumer ads for Requip last year, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus.

Drug companies need to stop the hard sell to doctors and instead leave doctors alone to make decisions based on objective information and the real needs of patients.

comments (26)

1 Posted by Melinda at 11/01/06 03:35 PM

Well no drug works for everyone.I have suffered with RLS for many years since childhood.And I personally am very grateful for Requip.It helps so much even with also having fibormyalgia..I rest better at if your like me any rest is a good rest.

2 Posted by Barbara at 11/01/06 05:14 PM

I believe that doctors should be telling patients what to take for a treatable condition, not drug companies. The drug companies are definitely looking out for their "bottom line." So many of the older drugs, which did a good job without many of the serious side affects the newly advertised ones have, are going out of production because there is much less profit in them. Also, the drug companies hide negative results of their drug testing. I think that is a sad state of affairs.

3 Posted by Scott at 11/01/06 05:50 PM

As the husband of a woman with RLS, I am happy to hear that their might be some "real" help or cure for her. She gets little REM sleep due to her RLS, as do I. I know it sounds a bit silly to those who don't experience this situation, but believe me it isn't. My wife used to fall asleep at stop lights, and even in bumper to bumper traffic which caused cars to inch forward every few minutes. She has been taking medication not to help her RLS, but meds that helped her stay awake. I hope this new medication will be of help to her and couples everywhere.
Sure, it is true that there are many medications for which Drug Companies have to search for a disease, but try to remember that just because you aren't a victim of certain illness, doesn't mean it isn't a serious problem.

4 Posted by Pris at 11/01/06 07:16 PM

I, too have RLS and I can vouch for the fact that it is a serious problem. It is not "in my head" and it is not a disease created by the drug companies. It is a reality to me and to others like me. With medical help I am finally able to sleep and that to me is worth so much. I am so tired of people who do not have the problem telling others with it that it is not real. It is very real.

5 Posted by Ron at 11/01/06 10:05 PM

I also have RLS and finally got relief from a drug called Lavorphanol, it too is an opiod. I started using it for cronic back pain when I realized it also kept me free from RLS.

6 Posted by Dennis at 11/02/06 12:54 PM

I had RLS too, but mine was caused by drinking more than 2 glasses of a particular box white wine. I stopped drinking the box wine and the RLS went away. It's not an imaginary disease.

7 Posted by Len F at 11/02/06 09:02 PM

For the RLS try about 1500 Mg per day of Calcium plus D. Give it about 4 days. Let me know what happened.

8 Posted by kent at 11/04/06 02:25 PM

I too have RLS. It first reared its head after cutting down to the very minimum on pain medicine for a badly injured back. I tried warm baths even sometimes 3 times at night. It helped a little but not enought to allow sleep. Either I take an increased dose of Morphine Sulfate or Requip. The answer is simple,Requip! I don't wish RSL on anyone.

9 Posted by f k paine at 11/10/06 03:16 PM

RLS seems real enough to me and Requip has solved the problem. While I find drug companies and insurance companies endlessly greedy, I do have a solution for my RLS and an grateful for it. --Fred

10 Posted by Hos at 11/26/06 01:20 AM

What is wrong with a drug company finding LEGITIMITE uses for a drug that already existed? Who cares if drug companies are making money for a drug which is proven to help people with RLS?

Lastly, the comment that "some physicians were skeptical that it (RLS) even existed" is very unfortunate. RLS is real. Besides, why would the FDA approve Requip if RLS doesn't "exist?"

11 Posted by Shari at 12/06/06 06:26 AM

I thought my RLS was caused by sitting too long in my Lazy Boy Chair. It's one that belonged to my mother and is slightly small for me. I thought it was cutting off the circulation. Then I realized my quest to down a glass of heart-healthy wine every evening was more likely the culprit. I seem to notice the RLS more when I drink wine. Something about this combination seems to keep me from going to sleep. I have to get up and take an ASPIRIN and a hot bath. It works every time!! Try it.

12 Posted by CAROL at 12/10/06 05:00 PM

i JUST DON`T UNDERSTAND, AS LONG AS MORPHINE SULPHATE HAS BEEN AROUND.WHY AM i HAVING TO PAY $50 DEDUCABLE IT IS JUST TOO MUCH AND I CAN GET MY DOCS TO WORK WITH ME.TIME FOR A CHANGE UNDOUBTABLY

13 Posted by DrBrian at 12/16/06 03:03 PM

In our experience, RLS is associated with "hidden venous reflux" in your legs The following is an explanation of how & why you have RLS:
There is a very high correlation between RLS and venous reflux. We have been studying this condition and treating it successfully for over 20 years, and we presented a paper on the subject at the World Congress of Phlebology in 2005 and we are performing studies of the clinical outcomes to treatment at this time.
Clinically most everybody has a strong opinion about this condition and there are a lot of false claims and quackery out there for desperate/gullible patients. There is no convincing evidence of a link to any neurological condition. The field of Phlebology is relatively new and is only recently becoming part of mainstream medicine. Because of this, reflux and its significance is new to almost every doctor. It only became visible to us when we first applied ultrasound imaging as part of our examination protocol. We invented and developed the concept of venous mapping, and first published it in 2002. All venous reflux represents "short circuits" in the venous return system, and these are always well established and very diffuse in RLS patients. Refluxing blood is hypoxic (low O2 content) and contains metabolic by products including lactic acid. This acidity makes the refluxing blood a potential irritant in your leg. When the affected patient lies down or stops walking, the driving force for this reflux (mainly the calf muscle pump)ceases and the refluxing blood now becomes stagnant. It then becomes a much more powerful irritant, and becomes worse with time. You move your legs (to activate your leg muscles) so as to propel the stagnant blood forward, so making it less of an irritant. The "urge to move" is similar to an itch that demands a scratch. Only problem is that it recurs when you most need to rest.
The treatment is performed on a out patient basis and is very successful. We treat one leg at a time, so that we don't begin the second leg until you are happy with the outcome on your first leg. The treatment is directed only on the abnormal refluxing veins (typically invisible until we show you where). We use a specific version of sclerotherapy, which is designed to eradicate these abnormal veins. Conceptually, this treatment can only improve your circulation. Venous reflux in much more common in women and so therefore is RLS. Much more can be said about this condition and its treatment. For more information you can contact the (non-profit) Venous Research Foundation at www.venousresearchfoundation.com, or call Vein Clinics of America to schedule a consultation where we will show you where the venous reflux is in your leg. 1800-660-8346.
We welcome the curious and we always enjoy surprising the sceptics. To the cynics, I say we don't accept your money if we can't convince you during the consultation and discovery evaluation process. Keep an open mind because we have a very successful treatment program and an excellent reputation for what we do.
Sincerely,
Brian McDonagh, MD

14 Posted by Tessa at 01/15/07 02:05 AM

I have had this and I got mine as a result of being put on psychotropic drugs. Maybe its something from chemicals used that cause it. But i didnt have before those drugs and it went away after the cold turkey phase of the mind blowing drugs.

15 Posted by Tessa at 01/15/07 02:09 AM

I have had this and I got mine as a result of being put on psychotropic drugs. Maybe its something from chemicals used that cause it. But i didnt have it before those drugs and it went away after the cold turkey phase of the mind blowing drugs. I have looked into drug companies recently and all they do is find one syndrome after another after another and then make drugs often using old ones and if you look at psychotropic drugs, look at the side affects. Oddly enough they are promoting drugs to treat so called psychiatric illnesses for side affects many of them cause in the first place and then give that side affect a name.

16 Posted by Tessa at 01/15/07 02:19 AM

ps

pregnant women also suffer these symptoms and it is not a brain syndrome as drug companies would want us to believe and they say everything is a syndrome so they can market pychychotropic drugs which make them more money than probably most other drugs out there.

Its a money game to drug companies and someone always suffers as a result and if they can get these bad drugs out and associate them with just about anything and everything they will.

17 Posted by Raven Waldenpond at 06/13/07 02:16 PM

Though I am an avid believer using herbal and alternative methods, I can also ascribe that restless legs is , well, a nightmare. When you have to get up and go to work on little sleep and you are 55+ it is no fun. Your body does not bounce back like in your twenties when you could party half the night and then work. I did as much research on my own and found that higher levels of iron, potassium, magnesium, can help. So mostly now it is better most nights. Some nights, like the poster above, has tried three hot baths in one night for relief. When I finally called my doc I found out the RX was $150. No way could I pay it. She suggested quinnine(sp) but the FDA pulled it off the market. But tonic water, which has small amounts of quinine, helped me. I would try every non RX remedy first, but am astute enough to use a RX if need be. It sounds like the old meds work just as well and don't cost an arm and an restless leg.
Raven Waldenpond
http://renegade-celtic-hedgewitch.blogspot.com/

18 Posted by Jakee at 06/22/07 02:46 AM

i also suffer with rls and i used many drugs but not effect yet thanks for this article i will try which comment in it

19 Posted by tony at 06/30/07 09:21 AM

rls is big issue in these days this article help people from it

20 Posted by Alcohol Abuse at 06/12/08 10:04 AM

It is sad that a drug for cancer has not yet been invented although we have all this "useless" technology. I think that cancer should be a priority for many medical research facilities.