FDA’s Lethal Weakness Requires More than Committees Sun, 7 Nov 2004 Bloomberg News reports that New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer requested information from Pfizer about the promotion of some of its drugs for unapproved uses – the recalled diabetes drug, Rezulin and the antidepressant, Zoloft were named. In…
British Shake-up for drug licensing body Thu, 11 Nov 2004 “The damage done by the public believing they have been lied to or defrauded is difficult to repair.” A shake up is taking place in the UK as the culture of secrecy and the pharmaceutical industry’s influence on the Medicines…
Children and antidepressants – CNN Financial Today Fri, 12 Nov 2004 When CNN was looking for an expert with a responsible, balanced view about the concerns of prescribing psychotropic drugs for children, they turned to AHRP. We recommended psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, a practicing clinician and Harvard faculty member, whose…
Just Say No – Forbes Tue, 16 Nov 2004 When Mrs. Nancy Reagan coined the phrase, Just Say No, she was referring to illicit drug pushers. The current Forbes cover story–Just Say No–refers to the prescription drug industry. "In a perverse kind of symbiosis, the cascade of disease and medical…
FDA Is Flexing Less Muscle where Safety is the Issue – Wash Post Thu, 18 Nov 2004 The Washington Post examines FDA’s record of surveillance and the evidence is clear: since 1992 when Congress required drug companies to pay users fees to the FDA, the agency’s focus changed from safety…
FDA’s Double Standard Re: Advisory Committee Membership Mon, 15 Nov 2004 FDA’s inexplicable actions–the latest being the removal of Dr. Curt Furberg from an FDA advisory committee for alleged "intellectual conflict of interest" – demonstrate hypocracy and intellectual dishonesty. Dr. Furberg independently analyzed the scientific data, concluding: "The result is…
Pfizer Must Hand Over Documents in Pitman Case Sat, 4 Dec 2004 A federal judge in Charlotte North Carolina rejected Pfizer’s arguments and ordered the company to hand over the concealed documents sought by defense counsels in the criminal case against Christopher Pitman, a teenager who, at the age of…
FDA Foot Dragging – Three Months After Expert Panel Urged “Black Box” Warnings for Antidepressants, No Action Thu, 23 Dec 2004 Why is the FDA failing to enforce the "Black Box" warnings on SSRI antidepressant drug labels? When questioned by the NJ Star Ledger, Robert Temple, director of the FDA’s…
Elliott Spitzer walks away from prosecuting coporate crimes Sat, 25 Dec 2004 “After nearly three years of high-profile prosecutions of investment banks, mutual funds and insurance companies, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer of New York said yesterday that he is ready to cede those investigations to federal regulators.” Whatever Eliot Spitzer…
NIH: Public Servant or Private Marketer? Wed, 22 Dec 2004 David Willman of the Los Angeles Times provides an important reminder that the FDA is not the only government healthcare agency to have betrayed the public trust and lost its credibility. While the FDA has lent its seal of approval…
Calls Mounting for FDA Revamp / Americans Are the most medicated population in the world – DHHS Sun, 26 Dec 2004 A government survey by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, confirms that Americans are the most medicated population in the world – 44 percent of Americans had…
Boston Scientific Sold Defective Stints Amid Alarming Data / 22% Medical Device Follow-up Not Done – Boston Globe Mon, 27 Dec 2004 Two reports in The Boston Globe raise concern defective medical devices – including cardiac stents, pacemakers and other medical devices–are proliferating the marketplace before their safety has been…
