Xyrem: Fighting Off the Taboo of Schedule I

The New York Times reports today on Palo Alto-based Jazz Pharmaceuticals, which makes a drug called Xyrem to treat narcolepsy. The striking thing about this drug: it's also the Schedule I substance gamma hydroxybutyrate, better known as the party/date rape drug GHB, even better known as George Michael's nemesis.

Why is that interesting? Just because Schedule I substances aren't supposed to have any medical use. And because the FDA explicitly invoked the fact that marijuana is a Schedule I substance in its April 2006 "inter-agency advisory" that smoked marijuana could not possibly be a medicine. Turns out, being on Schedule I doesn't really determine whether something can be a medicine -- even when the drug in question has recreational uses.

As a side note, I'm betting that the folks at Jazz are grinding their teeth today as the press talks about their product as a "date rape drug." It's unfortunate that the good "news hook" is something salacious and irrelevant, when the far more important issue is whether this drug can help people.

(Hat tip: Pharmalot.)