2013 Study: Anti-Benzodiazepine Campaigns in Nine European Countries

Prolonged-release melatonin has been promoted in nine European countries in an effort to offer an alternative to benzodiazepines and Z-drugs. I haven't seen this sort of thing in North America, but it's encouraging to see such efforts in Europe. The results were variable, as you'll see from the study, linked below.

 

For me, an important question to ask is, "What kind of support and information is given to those long-term users who need to withdraw from such medications before (or while) switching to melatonin?" It's a question that lingers for me as I read the study, and it's hard to get a clear sense of it from what's written. However, I applaud any country that encourages a decrease in benzo/Z-drug prescription and use, and if there's appropriate support, then all the better. Perhaps that's the missing factor in countries where the campaigns didn't do well, but I'm not sure. I'll be interested to hear everyone else's thoughts.

 

Objective:

"This study aimed to analyze and evaluate the impact of anti-BZD/Z-drugs campaigns and the availability of alternative pharmacotherapy (PR-melatonin) on the consumption of BZD and Z-drugs in several European countries."

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3610030/

Regular Melatonin is available OTC, is incredibly cheap, and cannot be protected by patent law. Could the XR version be prescription only? And proprietary? Thus profitable?

Hi Qui,

Here's the relevant info from the study:

 

"PR-melatonin is only available as trade name Circadin, manufactured by Neurim Pharmaceuticals, Tel-Aviv, Israel. PR-melatonin 2 mg is the only alternative to BZD and Z-drugs, approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in 2007 for patients aged 55 or over, as monotherapy for the short-term treatment (up to 13 weeks) of primary insomnia.

 

As PR-melatonin was launched in many European markets in 2008, it was interesting to evaluate how campaigns to decrease BZD and Z-drugs prescriptions affected consumption of these drugs in real life, with or without market uptake of PR-melatonin."

 

I'm sure the medication could be profitable for the company, but this initiative appears to be health-driven initiative, rather than profit-driven.

Hi Lapis

 

Thanks for all the info you post, not just this paper. I really appreciate your efforts.

 

I can't concentrate to read the paper but got the gist of it.

 

This is great news. I wonder why NICE (Englsnd)  & SMC (Scotland) did not support the prescribing of melatonin in the UK. That is why uptake here has been poor. At least benzo prescribing is falling here. 

 

No medical support for me after coming off benzo after 40 years despite it being at doctor's request!! 

Thankfully, I don't need it but lots of folk might.

 

Thanks again.

 

LF 

Hey LF,

You're welcome! It's nice to share some of these articles that I've come across online. I made a concerted effort to understand the problem from the different angles and found out that much is known. Some of it isn't shared widely, though. A number of the articles aren't available as online links, but this one was. And yes, I agree, this article can be dense and a bit tough to read, but at least we can see what's happening elsewhere.

 

I see that you're in Scotland, so if the prescriptions are falling there, that's good news. The UK seems to be ahead of the game in terms of awareness. I think the article misses a few key points regarding the "why's" of the numbers, but I guess that wasn't the goal of the study really. That's another study yet to come. In my travels online, I find that many studies conclude with "....more research is needed....".

 

 

Hi Lapis

 

Yes, further research is always needed.

 

I worked in research for 20 years and every study throws up more questions.

 

I loved it.

 

Now I can't even read the papers.  :'( :'(  I used to write them!!  Makes me very sad.

 

Ah well, maybe some of it will come back.

 

LF 

 

 

 

 

Yes, it will! Stay positive on that one. Your intelligence hasn't changed, and I'm sure that time will restore your capacity back to what it was. Read those Success Stories!