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From: Nathan Lavid, M.D.
Date: 05 Oct 2005
Time: 10:15:50 -0500
Remote Name: 71.107.205.117
Hello Holger, It’s good to hear from you again, and thanks for the question. The olanzapine study was small, and from my understanding, many of the patients continued to use the medication after the trial. As to why the major pharmaceutical companies have not pursed further research with the SDAs, I will offer two hypotheses. One, the medications are not benign and have potential for side effects. There is no mortality associated with stuttering, which makes the risks of the medications more apparent in light of the benefits. These risks may make the major pharmaceutical companies wary in expending funds to study the stuttering population. For example, olanzapine (at higher doses than you are taking) can cause significant weight gain and has been associated with diabetes and stroke. Two, the number of physicians who are comfortable prescribing SDAs are limited, and mostly limited to psychiatrists. Most patients who stutter are examined by pediatricians and family medicine physicians, who do not routinely prescribe SDAs. In fact, most patients who stutter are never evaluated by a physician, and it’s understandable the major pharmaceutical companies would not want to investigate a treatment for a population of patients who would never have contact with physicians comfortable prescribing the treatment. These explanations are my own, and I want to make clear the pharmaceutical companies are not the caretakers of one’s health. As demonstrated by this conference, there is much research in stuttering taking place now. The lack of involvement of the major pharmaceutical companies is in no way limiting the progress of current discovery. I imagine they’ll catch up soon enough.