SAMHSA Backs Away From TeenScreen & TMAP Mon, 24 Oct 2005 On October 17, a meeting took place with Charles Currie in Washington DC – with some in attendance by conference call. Currie is the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the federal agency charged…
Prozac Suicide Risk – CNN Posts long concealed Eli Lilly Internal Documents Tue, 4 Jan 2005 An internal company document titled Activation and Sedation in Fluoxetine Clinical Trials dated 11/8/1988, provides insight into how marketing divisions of pharmaceutical companies rationalize lethal adverse drug effects. Of note: the terminology in 1988…
Lilly Shares Fall After BMJ Report About Prozac Documents – NYT Sat, 1 Jan 2005 The New York Times reports that Jeanne Lenzer’s investigative report in the current (Jan 1) British Medical Journal, citing Eli Lilly secret documents showing that company officials knew since 1988 that Prozac increased violent and…
FDA Commissioner Nominee told Senate He’s Open to Independent Safety Unit / Biogen issues Avonex Warning Fri, 18 Mar 2005 It would be impossible to gain insight into Lester Crawford’s confirmation hearings by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee if one read only one news report. The Los…
Dubious Drug Therapy – Keith Koeller / Bread and Shelter, Yes. Psychiatrists, No – Sally Satel Wed, 30 Mar 2005 Two OpEd columns deserve special attention because they provide insight and evidence of the harm done by current psychiatric / psychological practices. Sally Satel, MD is a psychiatrist and resident…
When Doctors Learn, Drug Firms Often Pay th eTab – Philly Inquirer Wed, 8 Jun 2005 The Philadelphia Inquirer reports about the blinders that academic medical institutions and physicians (in this instance psychiatrists) put on pretending not to know that they have surrendered the integrity of medicine and medical education…
Prologue Selling sickness by Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels Thirty years ago the head of one of the world’s best-known drug companies made some very candid comments. Close to retirement at the time, Merck’s aggressive chief executive Henry Gadsden told Fortune magazine of his distress that the company’s potential markets…
CNN / Mercury News: Bioshield Vaccine Contracts to mfg with “closest ties with the government” Sun, 18 Sep 2005 Questions are being raised (again) about the government vaccine purchasing program, ostensibly as a measure to protect the American public in the event of a bioterrorist attack. Mercury News (Twin City,…
European perspective: Bird Flu–BBC Panoarama / German skeptics / Rumsfeld Tamiflu stock $5 to $25 million Sat, 5 Nov 2005 As the media continues its senstional coverage of the “Bird Flu pandemic”, healthy skeptics are examining the evidence. Two European examinations–The BBC Panorama will air a program, Lessons from Vietnam,…
Drug intoxication defense breaks new South Carolina legal ground: Pittman /Zoloft trial Sun, 13 Feb 2005 In South Carolina, temporary insanity does not influence punishment. If found guilty of murder – whether by reason of insanity or not, the sentence is 30 years to life with no parole. Defense attorneys…
Judge Rules On Anthrax Vaccine Sun, 10 Apr 2005 In the latest ruling by a U.S. Federal court, judge, Emmet Sullivan, ruled that under the new Bioshield law, in an emergency the Pentagon is authorized to give experimental drugs and vaccines to service personnel. However, the judge ruled, the Defense…
Netracor J & J heart Drug May Raise Risk of Dying Wed, 20 Apr 2005 A new research challenges the safety level linked with the drug ‘Natretor.’ Scios Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson is the maker of “Natrecor.” “Researchers say that the use of heart-failure drug Natrecor results…
