Smallpox vaccine: Experts Urge Caution, Administration Pushes Hard Sat, 29 Mar 2003 In our earlier Infomail today, the focus was on the Administration’s difficulty in recruiting volunteers for the anthrax vaccine trial. This Infomail focuses on the determined push to implement the smallpox vaccine program, despite the advice of medical…
Medical Confidentiality of Research Subject in Jeopardy–Lawyers Subpoena Anthropologist Sun, 9 Mar 2003 Dr. Sheldon Zink, an anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics who was in the operating room when James Quinn had an artificial heart transplant, is fighting a legal battle to preserve a research subject’s…
FDA Requires Bar Codes on Drugs-IG resigns Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 On a positive note, the FDA has finally come up with a proposal to cut medical errors in hospitals. Drug manufacturers will be required to put drug bar codes on every prescription drug to protect patients from fatal…
Asthma Drug trial Halted -Health Risk Are Suspected Mon, 17 Mar 2003 A spate of recent articles have shown that pharmaceutical companies suppress the publication of negative findings about their products. However, that is not the only way these companies keep physicians and patients uninformed about adverse drug effects. Another…
VA Orders Nationwide Review of Research_BNA Wed, 12 Mar 2003 Following several research-related deaths at the Albany VA, it was revealed that the researcher under whose care several patients died in clinical trials, was not even a licensed physician. The Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) Health Care Report states that…
Pfizer Nears Drug Settlement Sun, 16 Mar 2003 A 7-year lawsuit filed by Dr. David Franklin, the former Harvard fellow turned whistle blower, may be reaching a resolution. The suit accuses Warner Lambert (now Pfizer) of illegally promoting the epilepsy drug, Neurontin, for conditions not approved or tested. His lawsuit…
Bayer/ Baycol on Trial in Texas_NYT Sat, 1 Mar 2003 Melody Peterson of the New York Times reports that in the first case brought against Bayer involving its anticholesterol drug, Baycol, a senior official of Bayer AG testified in court in Corpus Cristi, Texas. He acknowledged that company officials in…
Infomail 2005 News Stories on Human Research Protection and Commentary by Vera Hassner Sharav Subscribe to the AHRP infomail list Dec 16: Drugs, Devices & Doctors – NYT Paul Krugman Dec 11: Scientific Fraud & Corruption on Both sides of Atlantic: Merck / Proctor & Gamble Dec 11: Gov Accountability…
Antidepressant drugs Used as Placebos! Fri, 10 Oct 2003 Increased use of antidepressant drugs during the 1990s, has increased national spending on antidepressant drugs by a walloping 600%! Dr. Jay Pomerantz of Harvard writes, “inappropriate use of antidepressant drugs may lead to a deterioration of clinical course with no clear…
FDA reviews depression drugs–Intense or Cautious? WashPost/ NYT/ Herald Wed, 29 Oct 2003 The Washington Post correctly reports: “The association between antidepressants, particularly the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and suicide has been controversial since the first SSRI, Prozac, came on the market in the late 1980s.” But stakeholders in…
FDA Issues Public Health Advisory Entitled Reports Of Suicidality in Pediatric Mon, 27 Oct 2003 The FDA issued a warning about the suicide risk for children prescribed an antidepressant of the SSRI class. These drugs have never been shown to be more effective than placebo for the treatment of depression–which…
Lead author of JAMA article rethinks positive Zoloft report – Guardian Wed, 1 Oct 2003 In August 2003, the Sertraline Pediatric Study Group reported: “Sertraline-treated patients experienced statistically significantly greater improvement than placebo.” Their report was published in the authoritative Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The authors claimed…
