Metformin & statins may help mental illness

[Prem51]

Cheap common drugs may help mental illness
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46809517

 

[bulkbiker]

Are they serious?

 

[Bluetit1802]

Are they serious?

apparently they are, from a badly designed experiment only.

 

[Guzzler]

"Red Herring" is just about right. This is epidemiology and it is in retrospect.

 

[NicoleC1971]

When drugs become less profitable because they are off patent a cunning new strategy is to demonstrate they have a new benefit different to the original purpose backed up by limited studies.

 

[hankjam]

OMG.....

 

[Dark Horse]

apparently they are, from a badly designed experiment only.

I don't think the studied was badly designed, as such - it's just that those particular types of studies have inherent limitations. It doesn't mean that those studies shouldn't be performed - they make use of existing data and are therefore relatively cheap and easy to do. The important thing is to acknowledge the limitations and using them as a signpost to where further (more expensive and difficult) research effort should be directed. The researchers seem to be doing just that as they say that 'it's just a starting point' and want there to be follow-up clinical trials to obtain robust evidence.

 

[Guzzler]

Perhaps I'm wrong but using a drug 'off label' should be based on patient experience and these experiences should be patient prompted rather than research led in order to repurpose a particular drug that may or may not have gone off patent.

My nasty, suspicious radar is blinking at me (wrt statin use).

As an aside, why do so many of these articles use mixed maths? This one states two figures, at first stating one fifth then switching to percentages. Is it a journalists not wanting to repeat a particular figure or is it something else?

 

[hankjam]

They have history....
Viagra started off as a heart drug...
Thalidomide was used for something else... I can't recall at the moment....
other than morning sickness....

 

[Deleted member 308541]

Thalidomide was used for something else... I can't recall at the moment....
other than morning sickness....

From Wikipedia:

Thalidomide, sold under the brand name Immunoprin, among others, is an immunomodulatory drug and the prototype of the thalidomide class of drugs.

Today, thalidomide is used mainly as a treatment of certain cancers (multiple myeloma) and of a complication of leprosy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide

 

[Dark Horse]

Perhaps I'm wrong but using a drug 'off label' should be based on patient experience and these experiences should be patient prompted rather than research led in order to repurpose a particular drug that may or may not have gone off patent.

My nasty, suspicious radar is blinking at me (wrt statin use).

As an aside, why do so many of these articles use mixed maths? This one states two figures, at first stating one fifth then switching to percentages. Is it a journalists not wanting to repeat a particular figure or is it something else?

Patient experience has been used to direct research into 'repurposing' drugs. For example, sildenafil (Viagra) was originally developed to treat hypertension but patients reported an unusual side-effect (erections) which led to the drug's current use.

Unfortunately, there tends to be ups and downs in the natural history of mental illness so it's difficult for individual patients to identify whether there are any particular factors affecting this. By using large numbers of patients and using appropriate statistical analysis, it's much easier to see if there is any relationship. If a drug can be 're-purposed' it's much cheaper and quicker than developing a new drug from scratch.

Agree about the mixed maths.

 

[Guzzler]

Patient experience has been used to direct research into 'repurposing' drugs. For example, sildenafil (Viagra) was originally developed to treat hypertension but patients reported an unusual side-effect (erections) which led to the drug's current use.

Unfortunately, there tends to be ups and downs in the natural history of mental illness so it's difficult for individual patients to identify whether there are any particular factors affecting this. By using large numbers of patients and using appropriate statistical analysis, it's much easier to see if there is any relationship. If a drug can be 're-purposed' it's much cheaper and quicker than developing a new drug from scratch.

Agree about the mixed maths.

From personal experience; I have rescheduled hosp appointments through illness and/or depression and I have rescheduled because I have felt comparatively well. This may sound odd but if 'well' days are far and few between then sometimes one doesn't want to spend a whole morning in a stuffy waiting room having to go through everything all over again only to be told to come back in six months by someone you have never seen before. Counting missed appts seems a weak parameter to me as do hospital admissions in some cases.

 

[Pinkorchid]

Well if they work then that can only be good As said many drugs have been found to be good for other things besides what they were first developed for . Steroids for instance were first used to treat juvenile arthritis now they are used for numerous conditions

 

[Member496333]

This could be very good news for everyone if lower carbohydrate eating continues to gain traction and people come off Metformin and improve their lipid panels. Just need to show association with prevention of mental illness and everyone’s a winner. This research comes just in time.

By everyone, I mean pharmaceutical companies.

 

[Charis1213]

I don't believe this at all , desperate pharma because lchf is getting us better without their medication .

 

[Pinkorchid]

I don't believe this at all , desperate pharma because lchf is getting us better without their medication .

Do you honestly think they would give statins and metformin to people with mental illness regardless if they help them or not just because a small percentage of diabetics are not taking them now

 

[bulkbiker]

Do you honestly think they would give statins and metformin to people with mental illness regardless if they help them or not just because a small percentage of diabetics are not taking them now

Yes I honestly do but not for the reason you state.
Pharma companies are there to make profit. The way they make profit is by selling more product (not products note as there are surprisingly few really new drugs coming onto the market because of the cost of R&D).
They will manipulate any data that shows the slightest of positive effects for any treatment in order to get more people taking their product (the relative risk against absolute risk type of figures we see often applied to statins). They will then spend a small fortune in marketing said product to achieve the highest sales figures possible.
Pharma companies are not in business for the health of the nation they are in business to make money for their shareholders.
The fact that people are becoming more aware of their own health and alternative means of taking charge is a huge threat to profits for them. Expect a whole lot more of this and more and more dubious science and statistics to show miniscule (if any ) benefits to various drugs as well as personal attacks on the advocates of "alternative' non drug medicine.

 

[Member496333]

Personally yes, I think that’s exactly what they will try to do

 

[Guzzler]

It is not just those with Diabetes who are refusing statin treatment.

 

[Bluetit1802]

It is not just those with Diabetes who are refusing statin treatment.

Yes indeed. My husband is one of them.