Brain boosting drugs

[El_Machinae]

It's a classic chicken and egg problem, and we live in a society that likes to make certain types of things illegal. How do we get the effectiveness and safety data? It's crazy hard to conduct these types of experiments, even though we have tens of thousands of people willing to self-experiment

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071108.wbraindrug1108/BNStory/Science/home

Brain-boosting drugs spark ethical debate in UK

08 Nov 2007 13:43:36 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - A rise in healthy people popping pills to boost performance in exams or work, raises long-term ethical and safety concerns about the effects of such treatments, British doctors said on Thursday.

The British Medical Association (BMA) wants a public debate about the risks and benefits of using drugs to improve memory and concentration, sometimes called "cognitive enhancement".

The ability of prescription drugs and medical procedures to improve intellectual performance is likely to increase significantly in the next 20 to 30 years as technology advances.

"We know that there is likely to be a demand by healthy individuals for this treatment," Dr Tony Calland, chairman of the BMA's Medical Ethics Committee said at the launch of a discussion paper on the issue.

"However, given that no drug or invasive medical procedure is risk free, is it ethical to make them available to people who are not ill?"

Surreptitious use of brain-boosting prescription drugs is particularly common in the United States and likely to increase in Britain, the BMA said.

"There is a growing expectation that the use of these so-called cognitive enhancers in the UK is both imminent and inevitable," the BMA said.

Today, the use of pharmaceutical aids to boost performance is mainly confined to certain groups -- notably students cramming for exams. Popular choices include drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, such as Ritalin, or methylphenidate, made by Novartis AG <NOVN.VX> and others. Another favourite is modafinil, the active ingredient in Cephalon Inc's <CEPH.O> narcolepsy medicine Provigil. Such drugs are widely available to buy online.

BOTOX FOR THE BRAIN

In the future scientists may be able to provide more permanent fixes for bad memory or poor concentration through brain stimulation and neurotechnology.

This would involve techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation -- sometimes referred to as "botox for the brain" -- where magnetic pulses are used to stimulate particular brain regions, and deep brain stimulation, where electrodes are inserted into the brain to transmit tiny electrical currents.

These and future medical interventions could benefit individuals and, potentially, wider society, if they increase the competitiveness of the workforce.

But "over-enhancement" of the brain's cognitive functions could have damaging side-effects.

It may, for instance, impair a normal brain's ability to selectively filter out trivial or traumatic information, resulting in the individual being plagued by unwanted or traumatic memories. (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Golnar Motevalli)

 

[skadistic]

It depends on the side effects. If its bad like steroids I say ban. If it isn't yes, please, more.

 

[El_Machinae]

We have thousands of people who're on steroids, willingly, even with the hype about the risks. They're mixing, matching, buying from Mexico. They're calculating diets, exercise routines, etc. Massive amounts of data would be available to people who're interested in seeing the effects of the steroids.

Why ban them?

 

[Kozmos]

I'm really slow. I'll take any nootropics I can get.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

Sounds like an overachieving college student's dream come true...

 

[LucyDuke]

However, given that no drug or invasive medical procedure is risk free, is it ethical to make them available to people who are not ill?

Yes, it's ethical to make them available in as safe an environment as possible. Don't push them underground into an unsafe black market, no matter what the side effects are. Keep them legal, and available, and be honest about the risks and benefits. Study the effects, and publish the results. Let people make their own decisions in the open, because they will anyway in private. Just like ought to be done with any other potentially harmful but attractive (to whatever group) material or behavior.

 

[skadistic]

We have thousands of people who're on steroids, willingly, even with the hype about the risks. They're mixing, matching, buying from Mexico. They're calculating diets, exercise routines, etc. Massive amounts of data would be available to people who're interested in seeing the effects of the steroids.

Why ban them?

Small testicles. What more reason do you need?

Or the massive hearts that users ( abusers) have which end their lives early. Use under a doctors care I can dig. I use to take shots in my back. But if brain drugs lead to something like brain swelling and people hemorrhage out at 38 thats kind of a problem. Banned for OTC use sounds good to me.

 

[Mark1031]

I want some Modafinil. It is supposed to keep you awake without producing sleep rebound. I just don;t believe it. I think these things are over hyped. Coffee is a cognitive enhancer. Is there any evidence that these things are any better?

 

[El_Machinae]

I was reading about the anti-sleep drugs, and the Gold Standard is 4 cups of strong, black coffee. Too often, the 'drug' underperforms.

Use under a doctors care I can dig.

What if the goal is enhancement? Doctor's have a hard time filling out those types of forms, because they're not allowed.

 

[Chandrasekhar]

If people are willing to risk side effects to use these sorts of experimental drugs, I see no reason to stop them. It's not like they're endangering anyone else by their choice.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Can't we do testing like this in some place without all these chemical laws?

I mean, it would be hella expensive, but Sealand seems like a perfect place for a research lab.

In all seriousness, though, how much testing has the FDA ever done on things they ban? Are there large studies conducted? Couldn't reputable research organizations petition the FDA for different tests for chemicals which show potential but aren't considered safe enough for general public consumption?

 

[Bill3000]

In all seriousness, though, how much testing has the FDA ever done on things they ban? Are there large studies conducted? Couldn't reputable research organizations petition the FDA for different tests for chemicals which show potential but aren't considered safe enough for general public consumption?

It takes like, what, 10 years to get a prescription drug approved? Monstrously huge and expensive studies are required just to get a drug approved.

 

[Irish Caesar]

So there must be data from those tests, right? Shouldn't it be public?

 

[Bill3000]

Yup.

The results of the testing program are codified in a FDA-approved public document that is called the product label, package insert or Full Prescribing Information. [9]The prescribing information is widely available on the web, from the FDA, [10]drug manufacturers, and frequently inserted into drug packages.The main purpose of a drug label is to provide doctors with adequate information and directions for the safe use of the drug.

Here's the link for public info on marketed drugs:

http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/about.cfm

 

[Mark1031]

So there must be data from those tests, right? Shouldn't it be public?

Sure there are lots of tests before drugs are approved. And there are all sorts of criteria for side effects. Cancer drugs can have lots while toenail fungus drugs cannot, you don't want to die to make your toenails look good. But what you must realize is that even these large expensive studies have only 100s to 1000s of people and they only go on for a year or 2. It really takes a generation (30-50 yrs) of general use in the population to know all the possible side effects and rare reactions to a drug.

 

[Jawz II]

As long as they do proper research on the long term effects and side effects and such, I don't see anything wrong with them.