Congressional Hearing: What did drug companies & FDA hide?

Fri, 16 Jul 2004

AHRP has learned that the Congressional hearing by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, scheduled for Tuesday, July 20, 2004 at 9:30 AM, will have a line up of major pharmaceutical industry executives who will be questioned about their companies’ failure to disclose clinical trial test results from antidepressant trials conducted in children / adolescents.

Two other panels of top officials of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association and the FDA are also scheduled. The hearing is scheduled for the full day.

The media is advised not to miss the opportunity of hearing major drug company executives testify under oath what they knew about the safety of antidepressants and what they withheld.

The FDA will have to explain the agency’s failure to ensure that physicians and the public were warned about evidence of an increased risk of suicide in children prescribed an antidepressant, and the failure of antidepressants to demonstrate a benefit for children in clinical trials.

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
Tel: 212-595-8974

Update: Cong hearing on July 20 is postponed until September