The Facts about Medicare “Wider Choices in Drug Benefits" Thu, June 16, 2005 The New York Times reports: “The expansion of Medicare to cover prescription drugs is President Bush’s most significant achievement in domestic policy. He plans to emphasize it at two events this week, on Thursday in Washington and…
Merck / Johnson & Johnson/ Lilly-Zyprexa: $690 Million settlement / a Flowering of Diabetes Drugs Fri, 10 Jun 2005 A cluster of news reports about three pillars of the pharmaceutical industry– Merck, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson–leave no doubt that this industry has shown its disregard for the welfare…
Was Traci Johnson driven to suicide by anti-depressants? That’s a trade secret, say US officials Sun, 19 Jun 2005 The dirty secret is finally tumbling out: Government agencies that are supposed to protect the public interest are shielding drug manufacturers by helping to conceal deaths and suicides in drug experiments….
House Votes to Prevent Pharma-tied Scientists on FDA Advisory Panels Thu, 9 Jun 2005 The House passed an amendment introduced by Congressman Maurice Hinchey (NY) to rein in pharmaceutical industry influence on FDA advisory panels whose recdommendations have resulted in the approval of lethal drugs. Below Merrill Goozner write: “The…
Integrity of Medical Regulators Wed, 8 Jun 2005 The UK MHRA (equivalent of US FDA) has been caught in flat out public deception. The MHRA–which is entirely funded by the pharmaceutical industry–had claimed that two thirds of professional organizations it consulted favored selling a heart medication (Zocor Heart-Pro) without a…
AMA Serves Pharma Marketing Priority/ FDA To Add Warnings on ADHD drugs–Concerta, Ritalin, Strattera, Adderall Wed, 29 Jun 2005 The FDA is finally taking note of the fact that many drugs prescribed for the treatment of psychiatric problems are CAUSING serious psychiatric and cardiovascular problems in children and adolescents !…
When Doctors Learn, Drug Firms Often Pay th eTab – Philly Inquirer Wed, 8 Jun 2005 The Philadelphia Inquirer reports about the blinders that academic medical institutions and physicians (in this instance psychiatrists) put on pretending not to know that they have surrendered the integrity of medicine and medical education…
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4696609 Documents Suggest Merck Tried to Censor Vioxx Critics NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO All Things Considered, June 9, 2005 – Because of intense interest in this report, NPR has decided to present a full transcript. Introduction: At least 38,000 Americans are believed to have died from taking the pain pill Vioxx…
Suicide Rate Unchanged in 10 Years–JAMA / AMA Considers Stand Against Warning Labels on Antidepressants Thu, 9 Jun 2005 A major report in the Journal of the American Medical Association shatters all claims about the effectiveness of antidepressants as a treatment for the prevention of suicide. A comparison of the…
Is there hope for Psychiatry to make it as a profession? Tue, 14 Jun 2005 The New York Times reports: “Psychiatrists have been searching for more than a century for some biological marker for mental disease, to little avail.” Indeed, the latest embarassing controversy that perennially plagues the psychiatric establishment…
The Rutherford Institute Takes on TeenScreen Case in Indiana Mon, 13 Jun 2005 Good News! The high profile civil libertarian Rutherford Institute has taken up the case of Mike and Teresa Rhoades whose15-year old daughter was screened in her Indiana school for mental illness– without their permission. John Whitehead, the…
Junk Science Hits Front Page Headlines: Most Americans Will Be Mentally Ill at Some Point – NIMH / Harvard Study Says Tue, 7 Jun 2005 Americans may be astonished to learn that $20 million in taxpayers’ money was spent on a study whose unacknowledged purpose is to increase the use…
