By Mathew Herper
“The next Lipitor.” That’s the prediction Christopher James of investment bank MLV & Co. made for Vivus’ new obesity drug in a Bloomberg story last week. He was quoted as saying it could be given to tens of millions of patients.
Not likely.
It’s not that Vivus’ drug, Qnexa, doesn’t have potential to become the best-selling weight loss pill ever. It’s that it could be many times bigger than any weight loss medicine ever and still not even come close to hitting Lipitor’s peak of $11 billion in global annual sales. (Until it went off patent last year, Lipitor, a Pfizer cholesterol medicine, was the best selling drug ever.)
It seems intuitively obvious that the market for an obesity drug would be vast. But the reality is that obesity drugs have never sold in Lipitor-like numbers, and they are not likely to unless someone comes up with one that is absolutely perfect in terms of efficacy and side effects.
Full story on the new weight loss drug at Forbes
Medical Xpress
Employees who received this therapy and returned to work sooner did not suffer adverse effects and showed significant improvement in mental health over the course of one year, according to the article, published online in APA’s Journal of Occupational Health Psychology.
“People with depression or anxiety may take a lot of sick leave to address their problems,” said the study’s lead author, Suzanne Lagerveld, of the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). “However, focusing on how to return to work is not a standard part of therapy. This study shows that integrating return-to-work strategies into therapy leads to less time out of work with little to no compromise in people’s psychological well-being over the course of one year.”
The study, conducted in the Netherlands, followed 168 employees, of whom 60 percent were women, on sick leave due to psychological problems such as anxiety, adjustment disorder and minor depression. Seventy-nine employees from a variety of jobs received standard, evidence-based cognitive-behavioral therapy, while the rest received cognitive-behavioral therapy that included a focus on work and the process of returning to work.
Full story of psychotherapy benefits at Medical Xpress
By Adele Horin
CHILDREN addicted to video games are more likely to suffer depression, anxiety and social phobias and may need professional help to recover, a visiting researcher says.
Once their gaming is back to normal levels, their psychological problems shift, and their mood and school work improve, says Douglas Gentile, a lead researcher on two major studies of video game addiction.
Dr Gentile, an associate professor in psychology at Iowa State University, will be guest speaker at the Corporate Takeover of Childhood conference in Melbourne next month.
His study of 1178 American children found nearly one in 10 gamers to be pathological players and his study of 3034 Singapore youngsters found a similar level of addiction, measured according to standards established for diagnosing gambling addiction.
Full story of gamer addicts and depression at The Age
Free Company Account
In March we will hold a random drawing giving away a free company account credited with 30 Free CEUs to be shared among employees. Company size doesn’t matter. We’ll also be drawing for our usual 10 Free CEUs for an individual. That’s 40 Free CEUs we’ll be giving away in March! Be sure to join us on Facebook where we’ll announce how you can enter.
Child Abuse & Neglect
7 CEU Hours: $21
Domestic Abuse in Later Life
8 CEU Hours: $24
A Guide to Ethical Conduct for the Helping Professions
8 CEU Hours
Exam Only $40
With Book $60
Full information of new ceus at Quantum Units Education
By University of Massachusetts Medical School
Worcester, MA — Clinical researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) are combining an innovative constellation of technologies such as artificial intelligence, smartphone programming, biosensors and wireless connectivity to develop a device designed to detect physiological stressors associated with drug cravings and respond with user-tailored behavioral interventions that prevent substance use.
Preliminary data about the multi-media device, called iHeal, was published online first in the Journal of Medical Toxicology.
According to the study’s authors, many behavioral interventions used to treat patients are ineffective outside of the controlled clinical settings where they are taught. This failure can be attributed to several factors, including a patient’s inability to recognize biological changes that indicate increased risk of relapse and an inability to change their behaviors to reduce health risk.
Full story of Treating Drug Use with Smartphones at Product Design and Development
