A thought just occurred to me regarding Aussie shrink Patrick 'DeLorean' McGorry and his heavily criticised early intervention program.
For those that have never heard of McGorry he is the Australian psychiatrist who basically can predict if a child will fall foul of a "mental illness" in future years. This is based on family history and...well, erm... likelihood. In other words it's a guessing game.
Anyway, whilst browsing the Clinical trials website it occurred to me that many, if not all pharmaceutical companies, have an exclusion criteria when carrying out clinical trials. An example would be a recently completed Paxil trial. Some of exclusion criteria was:
Patients with a history or complication of another (non-MDD) mental disorder (schizophrenia, etc.)
Patients with a history or complication of manic episodes
Patients diagnosed as having an attentional deficit disorder or hyperactivity disorder
Patients with a 3 or more-point score of "suicide" (HAM-D Item 3) or with a strong suicidal tendency by C-SSRS and investigator clinical judgement.
The full exclusion criteria for this particular trial can be read HERE.
Anyway, the point I am making here is thus:
If Paddy McGorry believes he can predict if a child will fall foul of a psychosis like illness and he firmly believes his early intervention program is fool proof then what of future exclusion criteria in clinical trials?
Surely if, in the above instance, those deemed to have been diagnosed with "ADHD" could not be part of certain clinical trials then what of McGorry's line of kids he has waiting to tick boxes to see if they will fall foul of such a disorder in future years?
Pharma can't have their cake and eat it. Maybe they should contact McGorry to pre-test all the children they add to their clinical trials.
**ring ring ring ring
"Hello, Paddy McGorry speaking."
"Hello Paddy, GSK here. We was just wondering if you could screen a bunch of kids for us to see if they will fall foul of a mental disorder sometime in the future."
**KA CHING
"Of course, send them over."
Maybe with the DeLorean Intervention Program, McGorry may just stop kids being picked for trials by pharmaceutical companies who, despite knowing their psychiatric medication is not safe for kids, continue to find ways to use it on kids.
If McGorry's program is so fool proof then why don't pharmaceutical companies use it before accepting children and teens onto their clinical trials?
I think my argument is valid, don't you?
Your move Paddy.
More about McGorry HERE.
Fid
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