20% volunteers drop out after suicide in Eli Lilly’s duloxetine trial Thu, 12 Feb 2004 The Associated Press reports that nearly a fifth of the volunteers testing Eli Lilly’s antidepressant drug, duloxetine, dropped out after Traci Johnson, a 19-year old student committed suicide at a company laboratory. “Three participants in…
Healthy 19 year old volunteer suicides at Eli Lilly laboratory Tue, 10 Feb 2004 The Indianapolis Star reports (below) that Traci Johnson, a 19 year old healthy volunteer, one of 25 local paid volunteers committed suicide by hanging while testing Lilly’s drug, Duloxetine, at Lilly’s Laboratory for Clinical Research. Duloxetine…
Failed Paxil drug tests in children concealed – Guardian UK Thu, 5 Feb 2004 The Guardian (UK) reports (below) that BBC Panorama had obtained secret 1998 documents from SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline, GSK) showing that the company deliberately concealed the failure of Seroxat / Paxil to demonstrate a benefit for…
TIME – Medicating Young Minds with Mood / Behavior Altering Drugs Sat, 1 Nov 2003 A TIME magazine cover story (excerpt below) looks at the inordinate popularity of prescribing mood altering psychotropic drugs for children begins to raise troubling questions about the specter of doing long-term harm to children. Doctors…
Researchers Chastise Am J Psychiatry Over Skewed Celexa Study Thu, 31 Mar 2005 A letter by eight medical scientists (most from India, possibly all psychiatrists) have seriously challenged the scientific validity of an article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The lead author of the challenged study is one…
AHRP Press Briefing Scientists Will Analyze SSRI Data – Families Will Tell Their Tragedies THE ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP) 142 West End Ave. Suite 28P New York, NY 10023 January 27, 2004 Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav President, AHRP Tel. No: 212-595-8974 E-mail: Contact: Lisa Van Syckel Family Liaison…
Excerpt: The British drug authority has banned the use of most SSRI antidepressant drugs for the treatment of depression in children under 18, citing a two-to-threefold increased risk of suicidal behavior and lack of evidence of a benefit for depressed children. Two SSRIs – Paxil and Effexor – are no longer recommended by their manufacturer for use in children. Prozac is no longer recommended by Eli Lilly for children in the U.K.
In contrast to the British medicines authority review of the evidence, the FDA has refused to allow independent scientists to present documented evidence related to these drugs’ hazards and their failure to demonstrate a benefit for depressed children.
A Psychiatrist’s Toxic Shock to Antidepressant – NYT Mon, 5 Jan 2004 Buried on the last page of the New York Times magazine, is personal account by a seasoned psychiatrist who describes her own toxic shock after taking bupropion (a.k.a. welbutrin, zyban) an antidepressant she had often prescribed to patients….
NAMI & Eli Lilly partners in bankrupting state Medicaid budgets – NYT Sat, 20 Dec 2003 The New York Times reports that Medicaid expenditure for prescription drugs has escalated to $27.5 billion. These costs are up 19% from last year. Antipsychotic drugs, such as Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa, eat up more…
Dr. Carl Elliott's insightful essay in SLATE:: Why do drug companies want to give money to bioethicists in the first place? In the public relations business, this approach is called "third-party strategy."
Stealth Merger: Drug Companies and Medical Research at NIH – LAT Sun, 7 Dec 2003 Los Angeles Times reporter, David Willman, who twice won the Pulitzer Prize (1994, 2001) has once again demonstrated what fine investigative journalism is about. His investigative series in 2000 put the spotlight on conflicts of…
NIH Expert on Safe Drug Research Seeks Whistleblower Protection Tue, 14 Dec 2004 In the wake of the Associated Press investigative report about unethical NIH-sponsored AIDS research involving infants and pregranant women Africa, and charges of misconduct by high officials at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Senate Finance Committee…
