Path: hks.net!news-mail-gateway!owner-cypherpunks From: asgaard@sos.sll.se (Asgaard) The reason FDA has not approved this drug is most probably because it does not make mildly retarded boys less retarded. But of course, ... Well, it wasn't until the past year that the FDA approved depakote for things like bipolar disorder. It can be prescribed for seizures. Psychiatrists have been prescribing it to their manic-depressive patients for the past ten years to help with their "seizures" when the patients have been unable to tolerate the lithium to treat their "seizures." (Depakote is usually used as an anticonvulsant.) I suspect the FDA hasn't ever approved _anything_ as a nootropic. And I guess the nootropic in question isn't useful for something else. Depakote has been known safe and successful for about ten years for the treatment of bipolar disorder. It's been approved for that for the last year. If the FDA had been more zealous, they would have probably forced many people into nine years or so of the progression of bipolar disorder _or_ lithium toxicity. on snake oil. It becomes more difficult to uphold a pure market philosophy when it comes to poisonous snake oil or, as is often the case with potent drugs, effective oil but which will kill you from side effects after a delay. FDA has a very good reputation of not 'recommending' drugs with (delayed) adverse effects outweighing the beneficial ones. Why not let the patients research the drugs themselves? They'll find out more than their doctors will ever tell them. [...] Until this happens, trust FDA. Have you ever stopped and wondered just how many drugs out there cause birth defects, and asked yourself why thalidomide is illegal and other drugs are legal? Asgaard Phil