Has the Obama administration already cowered to the demands of Big Pharma?
Forbes Magazine reports "How one company turned a rejection into a thumbs up, and what it could mean for the drug industry as a whole."
Title: FDA Approves Antipsychotic With Long History of Failure
The FDA has just approved the anitpsychotic drug, Fanapt (iloperidone) for adults with schizophrenia.
The drug, iloperidone, has a long history of failure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iloperidone :
QuaterWatch: 1,000 + deaths –>Digoxin / Suicide/ Violence –>Chantix
The latest QuarterWatch report (May 7, 2009) by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) found the following disturbing trends during the third Quarter of 2008:
NAMI Acknowledges: 56% of Budget Comes from Drug Companies
In its response to Sen. Grassley’s probe, The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) acknowledges that a majority of its funds over the last five years, 56% on average, have come from drug corporations.
Merck Paid Elsevier to Publish Phony Peer-Review Journal
Merck is reported to have created a fake "peer-reviewed" journal to present favorable data that made its potentially fatal drugs–Fosamax and Vioxx–look good.
Rebecca Riley’s doctor now the target of a grand jury
The Patriot Ledger reports that Rebecca Riley’s psychiatrist, Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, is under criminal investigation by a grand jury.
FDA-US Justice Dept. Withdraw Amicus Brief in Colacicco v. Apotex Inc,
“Every failure-to-warn case against a drug company has been affected by Wyeth”
Senator Grassley Might Leave Finance Committee: A Break For Pharma?
The Hill , a newspaper covering congressional news, reports: "Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) is considering leaving his powerful post as senior Republican on the Finance Committee so that he can become the highest-ranking Republican on the Judiciary panel. To avoid a dramatic shake-up, Grassley is hoping to strike a deal…
Institute of Medicine Calls for Doctors to Stop Taking Gifts From Drug Makers
The Institute of Medicine has issued a “scolding,” “stinging,” and “damning” report about financial conflicts of interest in American medicine involving pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies.
Does the FDA have the authority to trump the Declaration of Helsinki?
The FDA is sliding rapidly down the slippery slope, abandoning widely accepted, international ethical research standards articulated in the internationally accepted, Declaration of Helsinki–to facilitate commercial medical experiments.
AHRP Letter to Harvard Re: Dr. Biederman’s Research
AHRP proposes a multi-disciplinary team of independent scientists to review ALL of Dr. Joseph Biederman’s publications and supporting documents, including: research protocols, consent forms, and the original (of course, anonymized) data sets with associated code books for all pediatric studies.
NEJM Study Confirms Exposure to Depakote Lowers Children’s IQ
"We’ve known this drug is a bad actor for a long time." Now it’s confirmed exposure to Depakote (valproate) in utero lowers children’s intelligence.