Abilify Calling? Nobody home.

On May 19 I found this public pay phone advertising Abilify. I went today to pick up my General Tso Chicken, and I see the ad has been taken down. Maybe the purchased ad time ran out.







Or, maybe, Bristol-Meyers Squibb realized that they've gone too far by putting ads for their antipsychotic on pay phones.

Abilify Calling

I can't believe how far this Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical marketing has gone.

I went to the Chinese take-out place ("take-away" for you Brits) tonight to pick up some General Tso chicken, and outside the place I see the phone above. Sealed onto the outside casing of the phone, and obviously part of a marketing scheme that Verizon is making money on, is this huge ad for Abilify (aripiprazole), an atypical antipsychotic drug for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

That's just going too far.

FDA Drugs: Sept 2006

2007: Mar | Feb | Jan . . . 2006: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sep

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Just a quick list of relevant FDA and related notices...

Lamictal & Pregnancy: cleft lip in first trimester... see also Neurology abstract reviewing risk of fetal abnormalities in 4 anticonvulsants (note: take numbers with grain of salt... the N for each drug exposure is kinda low)

Generic Topamax released

Effexor label revised: mentions risk of serotonin syndrome with triptans

Abilify 7.5mg injectable: approved for agitation associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Contrave advances: New obesity drug... combines Wellbutin/bupropion and Revia/naltrexone to cause weight loss... 6-month trial in 250 people results in 7.5% wt loss (vs 1% for placebo). [see also Orexigen site]