So what would a “smart” dopamine med look like? I’m no pharmacology expert, but an amphetamine with brakes and gears might be helpful. So would a med that targets one of the enzymes that breaks down dopamine (such as MAOI or COMT), in essence regulating the regulator. A more sophisticated regulator might work on a protein inside the neuron (such as DARPP-32).
Anyway, here I was, at a function, talking to a drug company pharmacology expert. Maybe he could enlighten me. I began with my “15-second elevator pitch.” It was his turn to talk. He responded by telling me what a great antipsychotic his company had on the market, essentially the same spiel he gives to doctors.
Uh, perhaps he misunderstood. An antipsychotic is a dumb dopamine med, I explained (but using language far more polite). Patients need smart dopamine meds.
Again, he started pitching his stupid antipsychotic.
Wasn’t this guy listening? I thought.
Then it occurred to me: He isn’t listening! He pitched his antipsycotic yet a third time. There was no point in pursuing the conversation. This guy was nothing more than an over-educated shill pimping his company’s product, incapable of carrying on an intelligent conversation. Why did I think he was so smart?
A couple of weeks later, back home, one of my email buddies explained it to me: “Drug companies must be one of the few manufacturers in America who are DISinterested in what consumers think of their products,” she wrote. “How crazy is that?”
Of course, I realized, she is so right. Drug companies are not at all interested in our views. We’re just the dumb patients. We’re supposed to do what our doctors tell us and keep our mouths shut. This is an argument I will advance in future blogs.
The person who enlightened me is neither a meds expert nor an employee of a drug company. Bipolar runs in her family. At last, I was talking to someone smart.
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