Integrity of Medical Regulators Wed, 8 Jun 2005 The UK MHRA (equivalent of US FDA) has been caught in flat out public deception. The MHRA–which is entirely funded by the pharmaceutical industry–had claimed that two thirds of professional organizations it consulted favored selling a heart medication (Zocor Heart-Pro) without a…
Rutherford Files Mental Health Screening Lawsuit_Indiana / Fierce Opposition to TeenScreen Mounts – Pittsburgh Mon, 19 Sep 2005 The Rutherford Institute has just filed a lawsuit in Indiana challenging a school for subjecting a teenager to a mental health screening test – TeenScreen–without her parents’ knowledge or consent. After completing…
NYT Editorial: comparing schizophrenia drugs Wed, 21 Sep 2005 Today’s New York Times Editorial acknowledges: “A government-financed study has provided the strongest evidence yet that the system for approving and promoting drugs is badly out of whack. The study compared five drugs used to treat schizophrenia and found that most…
Eli Lilly Wants Insurers to Pay $1 billion in Zyprexa claims – AP Tue, 13 Sep 2005 The Associated Press reported that Eli Lilly is trying to pass the buck to insurers– In addition to the $700 million Lilly agreed to pay to settle a lawsuit over the company having…
Marketing Drugs by Marketing Sex–Cheerleader Sales Reps Mon, 28 Nov 2005 Readers, but not the medical community, may be shocked by a front page story in The New York Times that sheds light on yet another unseemly pharmaceutical industry strategy for pushing brand name drugs. The industry’s most effective drug…
EPA Proposed Research Rules Leaked Thu Aug 11, 2005 A storm is gathering as EPA’s proposed rules for human pesticide experiments have been made public by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. Stephen Johnson who heads the EPA has delivered what, Eric Olson called, a “slap in the face” to…
Worry Spreads Over G.I. Drug Side Effects Sun, 13 Feb 2005 Lariam, an anti-malaria drug developed by the US military. According to the Associated Press report (below) a review by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs found 34 articles in medical journals about patients who took Lariam and became paranoid, psychotic…
Drug Warnings: Are They Effective? USA Today Tue, 26 Apr 2005 How effective are drug warnings? USA Today reports that experts are unsure. For example, a study in the January issue of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety focused on Ohio Medicaid claims for Rezulin prescriptions – the diabetes drug had been…
Foster children AIDS Drug-Vaccine Experiments-Editorial – OpEd Sun, 22 May 2005 An editorial in the Toledo Blade, “Pediatric Shame,” expresses the moral indignation of the community upon learning that prestigious medical research Institutions nationwide exploited the vulnerability of children in foster care to test experimental AIDS drugs and vaccines: “in…
Latest Huckstersm: Surgical Implants for Depression – NYT Sat, 21 May 2005 The FDA was supposed to protect the public from snake oil hucksterism. It is appalling to note how far the FDA’s approval process for drugs and devices has veered away from it’s 1962 standards of evidence-based medicine. [1]…
September 3, 2002 Columbine shooting victim sues Solvay Pharmaceuticals – Insight Magazine FYI Insight Magazine reporter, Kelly Patricia O’Meara, reports in (below) that 19- year old Mark Taylor, a victim of the shooting spree at Columbine high school in 1999, spent nearly two months in the hospital plus 3 years…
Incentives to Pharma Companies but Health Care Leaders Voice Doubts on Smallpox Inoculations Thu, 30 Jan 2003 The New York Times reports (below) that serious doubts about the president’s smallpox vaccination plan emerged at a Senate hearing Wednesday. The Washington Post reports (below) that "The hearing illustrated the growing tensions…
