FDA Requests Anticonvulsant Suicide Data Analysis – Boston Globe Wed, 20 Apr 2005 Thanks to the persistent advocacy efforts of attorney, Andrew Finkelstein, the FDA has finally sent letters to 14 manufacturers of anticonvulsant drugs, such as Pfizer’s Neurontin, to examine the suicide data from these drugs. Finkelstein began his…
Fewer Kids Prescribed Drugs for Depression – WashPost Wed, 2 Feb 2005 A report by Medco revealing a decline in SSRI prescriptions for children is giving drug industry stakeholders nightmares about the cash flow. The Washington Post reports "medical groups such as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy…
US transferred virulent anthrax to Iraq; Saddam used it for weapons – London Times Sun, 14 Aug 2005 The author of this Infomail is Meryl Nass, MD, a recognized expert on biological warfare and who had first uncovered the use of anthrax as a biological weapon in Rhodiesia. Dr. Nass is…
At FDA, Graham is still the whistle-blower – USA Today Thu, 17 Nov 2005 On Nov. 18, 2004, Dr. David Graham, FDA’s associate director for science and medicine, blew the whistle in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, on FDA’s “profound regulatory failure” to protect the public against lethal prescription…
Selling Sickness: Pharma Industry Turning Us All Into Patients Mon, 12 Sep 2005 Related Link: Selling Sickness Prologue Selling Sickness: How the World’s Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients, by Ray Moynihan, an international health journalist, and Alan Cassels, a pharmaceutical policy researcher, is likely to become a…
FDA Standards – Good Enough for Government Work? Fri, 23 Sep 2005 An essay in The New England Journal of Medicine, by Jerry Avorn, M.D., professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and chief of the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, chalolenges FDA’s “minimalist” drug…
Despite Vow, Drug Makers Still Wtihhold Data – NYT letters Thu, 9 Jun 2005 An important article by Alex Berenson in The New York Times, “Despite Vow, Drug Makers Still Withhold Data,” corroborated the untrustworthiness of drug manufacturers. Their public pronouncements and promises to fully disclose their clinical trial data-including…
FDA says it Screened Panelists for Conflicts of Interest Tue, 1 Mar 2005 Bloomberg News reports that the Center for Science in the Public Interest had identified not 10, but 27 panelists on FDA’s advisory panel who had financial ties to drug manufacturers. Last week The New York Times reported…
Minn. Shooter Described As Deeply Disturbed-He took Prozac – Wash Post Thu, 24 Mar 2005 The Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post confirm the suspicion that like the other adolescents who went on a school shooting rampage, Jeff Weise was taking an SSRI antidepressant. The Post identifies the drug as…
Lies & Broken Promises_Drug firm Websites Fail to Disclose Test Data Sun, 9 Jan 2005 One year after PhRMA’s publicized proclamation of its “commitment to transparency” The Boston Globe reviewed pharmaceutical company websites searching for disclosure of clinical trial data. The Globe found that this voluntary approach failed miserably: “Last…
Former FDA Commissioner says FDA lost public trust Mon, 17 Oct 2005 The FDA’s failure to ensure drugs are properly tested in trials designed to detect serious adverse effects, and the agency’s failure to require follow-up post-marketing studies to be reasonably secure in the knowledge that no lethal drugs are unleashed on the public has…
APA Claims Credit for Censoring News Report about Mental Screening Sun, 16 Oct 2005 The American Psychiatric Association acknowledges its role in suppressing a major news story about the President’s New Freedom Commission Report recommendation. That recommendation is the center of a heated debate among advocates for personal privacy, parental…
