Zyprexa

Overall, the conventional group had a 37 percent greater risk of death than the atypical drug group; risk was highest right after treatment started and for those taking higher doses.

Whether people had dementia or lived in a nursing home did not alter the risk.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY THESE FINDINGS?

Older people.

CAVEATS: The FDA concluded that atypical antipsychotics increase the risk of death by 65 percent, compared with taking a placebo.

Based on that, the current study suggests that conventional drugs roughly double a person's risk of dying, according to the authors.

The study did not reveal causes of death, nor did it determine how or why antipsychotics affect mortality risk.

FIND THIS STUDY: Dec.

1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine; abstract available online at nejm.org.

LEARN MORE about antipsychotics at intelihealth.com (search for "antipsychotic drugs" in quotation marks) and nimh.nih.gov.

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The results weren't conclusive because the drug made participants drowsy and was causing them to sleep excessively, which likely accounted for some of the time they weren't gambling, Bernhard said.

However, the research paved the way for future studies, he said.

"When the Eli Lillys of the world are convinced enough about the biochemical nature of this ...

that's a great leap forward," he said.

Nalmefene, a drug made in Finland, is an "opiate blocker" that works by blocking a part of the brain that makes some activities pleasurable.

It has been used on an experimental basis in the United States to treat alcoholics, but has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Grant said.

More than 200 patients in treatment centers across the United States participated in Grant's 2003 study.

Grant said he will be following up with a second study that will involve input from up to 25 different research groups nationwide.

Las Vegas gamblers are among those who will participate in the study.

"We've got to go where the gamblers are," he said.

About 11 double-blind studies involving more than 350 patients have so far been conducted using drugs to treat problem gamblers, Grant said.

Double...

"Given our products, pipeline and the fact that we expect no major patent expirations for the rest of this decade, Lilly is positioned to deliver sustained earnings growth," said Sidney Taurel, chairman and chief executive officer for Lilly.

Despite an overall flat US antidepressant market in 2005, Cymbalta has led all branded and promoted products in share-of-market growth during this period.

Overseas, Cymbalta performed well at its German launch.

Lilly outlined its early-to-mid-stage pipeline developments, which by the end of 2006, should have at least five anti-obesity compounds in clinical development, including a molecule with a novel mechanism of action in Phase 2.

In the field of Oncology, Lilly expected to start five Phase 1 studies of oncology agents in 2006 and five more in 2007, including beginning clinical work on the first of two agents that inhibit TGF-beta signalling.

In addition, with Lilly's newest subsidiary, Applied Molecular Evolution, the company will initiate clinical trials soon with AME133, an antibody to CD20, for non- Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Lilly and its partner, Isis Pharmaceuticals, anticipate Phase 2 trials to begin in late 2006 for the surviving antisense oligonucleotide.

In addition, Lilly is focusing on developing medicines that are aimed at blocking or slowing the progression of diabetes at all points of the continuum of the disease.

Inhaled insulin is Lilly's le...