On Wednesday morning, May 24th, 2023, The Angry Moms will be assembling at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to protest the FDA’s deadly “blood for drug” policy associated with clozapine prescriptions.
In the US, thousands of individuals suffering psychosis disorders are injured, maimed, or lose their lives each year because of the FDA’s strict neutropenia testing policy for clozapine patients.
The FDA’s mandatory blood tests and burdensome clozapine REMS program frequently result in blocking vital prescription refills. Patients suffer painful and dangerous interruptions in clozapine treatment and live in constant fear that their medication will be abruptly stopped due to errors, delays, or administrative problems.
Clozapine prescriber guidelines are dangerously outdated, and the FDA’s clozapine REMS system prevents many doctors and patients from access to this lifesaving medication. Individuals with severe psychiatric disabilities are held hostage by the FDA’s bad policies. This decades-old barrier to clozapine treatment must end.
Clozapine is the most effective antipsychotic, and one of the safest options for treating schizophrenia and psychosis disorders. Years of evidence shows clozapine has no more risk of neutropenia than most other antipsychotic medications. Young patients at the age of onset for psychosis disorders are not at increased risk of developing this adverse effect.
Instead of forcing patients to undergo unnecessary frequent blood tests as a condition to receive their medication, the FDA should be holding doctors accountable to use clozapine when indicated and require proper training in clozapine patient management for all psychiatrists.
An army of The Angry Moms will gather at the Colonial Parking Lot (18 E Street NW) at 8:00am sharp on Wednesday May 24, 2023.
They will hold a brief candlelight vigil near the Colonial Parking Lot in memory of loved ones who have lost their lives due to lack of access to clozapine.
The Angry Moms will then proceed to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services building (the Humphrey Building at 200 Independence Ave SW). Starting after 9:00am The Angry Moms will march around the building in peaceful solidarity. They will be protesting systemic institutional discrimination against treatment-resistant schizophrenia, which is directly responsible for the FDA’s inappropriate clozapine regulations going unchallenged for decades.
At approximately 10:00am the marchers will proceed to the NW capitol lawn and stage a graveyard scene representing the tens of thousands that have died due to lack of access to clozapine. Young men like Kevin Keith Langemeier of Amarillo, Texas, whose clozapine refill was blocked on a Wednesday, and he died 6 days later on March 21, 2023, because he did not get his medication for several days.
The Angry Moms will complete their demonstration by 11:30am.
For more details, please return to The Angry Moms home page and submit a media inquiry. If you would like to join us, please submit a request to join our army.
