Abbott Seeks FDA approval for cancer drug despite failed trials – WSJ

Abbott Seeks FDA approval for cancer drug despite failed trials – WSJ Mon, 12 Sep 2005 Abbott Laboratories is asking the FDA to approve a cancer drug even though it failed in clinical trials to demonstrate a benefit greater than placebo–which is a minimal FDA requirement. The Wall Street Journal…

NYS Hearing –AIDS Drug /Vaccine Experiments on Foster Children

Testimony by Vera Hassner Sharav, President ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP) www.ahrp.org Hearing of the NYS Assembly Committee on Health and Committee on Children and Families September 8, 2005 New York City I speak on behalf of the ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP), the organization that filed the…

EPA Declines to Show Proposed Regulations for Human Pesticide Experiments

EPA Declines to Show Proposed Regulations for Human Pesticide Experiments Wed, 7 Sep 2005 When the committee of the Institute of Medicine gave the pesticide industry and the EPA the green light to accept data from human pesticide experiments, it opened the door for government-sanctioned experimental abuse that surpasses the…

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Orgs & NCQA

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Orgs & NCQA Fri, 9 Sep 2005 After much hand wringing following public disclosrure that the current IRB (institutional review board) research review and approval process is so inadequate and unreliable, the (then) outgoing Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, acknowledged in…

Johnson & Johnson stung by its own Advisory Committee–Natrecor should be strictly limited

Johnson & Johnson stung by its own Advisory Committee–Natrecor should be strictly limited Fri, 12 Aug 2005 Kudos go to Dr. Eugene Braunwald and the 10 members of the advisory committee that he heads. Contrary to Johnson & Johnson expectations, the committee recommended extensive warnings to physicians against prescribing Natrecor…

New Diabetes Drug Increases Mortality / Morbidity – FDA "approvable" letter Challenged

New Diabetes Drug Increases Mortality / Morbidity – FDA “approvable” letter Challenged Fri, 21 Oct 2005 Today’s newspaper reports about a lethal new diabetes drug that the FDA was poised to approve makes abundantly clear that The New York Times got it wrong when it gave the FDA high marks…

Russian Roulette Medicine: More kids get multiple psychiatric drugs

Russian Roulette Medicine: More kids get multiple psychiatric drugs Wed, 3 Aug 2005 Stop the madness! Child psychiatrist, Joseph Penn, advises: “Parents shouldn’t passively accept whatever doctors recommend for children with behavior or psychiatric problems.” “We just don’t have the efficacy or safety data to back up what is common…

College Students Abuse of psychostimulants–Adderall / concerta / Ritalin

College Students Abuse of psychostimulants–Adderall / concerta / Ritalin Fri, 5 Aug 2005 The abuse of Ritalin and other prescribed amphetamine-like psychostimulant drugs by college students is spiralling as students have grown accustomed to rely on pills as a crutch for coping with  pressure. Andrew Jacobs of the New York…

Applause to Editor of Amer J of Hypertension Who Said NO to financially compromised Society

Applause to Editor of Amer J of Hypertension Who Said NO to financially compromised Society Fri, 29 Jul 2005 The Wall Street Journal reports: “In a dispute reflecting heightened concerns about the control and credibility of medical information, the American Society of Hypertension said it is severing its 16-year relationship…