B.E.D. - excuse for lack of willpower?, legitimate condition?, or Big Pharma at work?

So, I've started seeing these youtube ads coming up for "Binge Eating Disorder"
, so I got curious about it, looked it up, and it's defined as "over-eating at least once a week, for a period spanning more than 3 months"

...or, in other words, overeating.

At first I thought, it this just another one of those quasi-diseases that people make up in order to give people an excuse for their current condition...then I came across this little nugget of info.

2015: The FDA has approved the first drug in the U.S. to treat binge-eating disorder, Vyvanse. The agency says it might lessen the number of food binges in people with the condition.

It's made by Shire Pharmaceuticals...the same fine folks that brought us the over-prescribed Adderall after telling everyone that minor behavior problems in children were all linked to ADHD.

Articles for "binge eating disorder" didn't start showing up until late 2014...and in Jan. 15, Shire got FDA approval and released their new drug to treat this new problem.

Is it possible that this is another case of a US pharmaceutical company inventing a disease to go with their cure?

I find the timing a bit suspicious on this one. MayoClinic, WebMD, and other websites added definitions for B.E.D in late 2014...The American Psychiatric Association amended their DSM-5 categorization to include this newly defined diseases shortly after that... and in January, a drug to treat is all ready to hit the market.

Either Shire pharmaceuticals is so ground-breaking and skilled at what they do, that they were able to find out about, and create a cure for, a new disease in roughly 2 months...or they simply created a disease out of thin air to go with the new drug they had already been working on.

I did some more research and found a NY times article speculating the same thing that I'm speculating.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/b...-vyvanse-first-marketed-the-disease.html?_r=0

Thoughts?

Mayzoo said:

Just an FYI:

Looking into Vyvanse, it is a controlled substance (CII, the strictest controlled substance) that is CNS stimulant primarily used for ADHD. So, it is similar to ritalin, concerta, etc... It has been around since 23 April 2008. It has recently received this new indication.

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Correct, it's similar to what they did with Proscar and Propecia. It was originally used for one thing, and then got approved to be marketed under an new name for another.

The big concern is that the pharma companies are encouraging medical associations to define diseases for which they claim to have the cure. Is it a coincidence that a new disease sprouts up 2 months before a drug company gets approval to start selling a drug that claims to be the cure for this new disease?

Is this another scenario like what we saw with Restless Leg Syndrome?
Some doctors express the view that the incidence of restless leg syndrome is exaggerated by manufacturers of drugs used to treat it.

ChristsSoldier115 said:

I don't know if this is off topic but is it me, or is america heavily over-medicated? Probably 2/3s of my family is taking some pill for something.

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Actually, they just put a rather interesting documentary out on Hulu that I just watched over the weekend...the US consumes nearly 70% of the world's prescription drugs, and nearly 80% of the world's painkillers.

Pretty scary thought considering that the US only accounts for 5% of the entire globe's population.

...which might be something we need to think about when discussing universal healthcare for our nation. Those costs are going to be a lot higher for us than other nations if people are popping expensive pills like candy.