Part II. What Do We Get for All That Money? A preventable epidemic of injury and death from prescription drugs; FDA’s contribution to the epidemic; Big Pharma’s business model: manufactured myths, propaganda and a hidden agenda;
Why didn’t Barbara Starfield’s Findings (JAMA 2000) cause a major overhaul of US medicine?
List of FDA-licensed prescription drugs withdrawn from US market for safety issues:
Between 1973 and 1991 (18 years) —16 drugs were withdrawan; Between 1992 and 2011 (19 years)—28 drugs were withdrawn. Continue reading →
A fascinating article in The Atlantic, "Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science" by David Freedman, profiles Dr. John Ioannidis, who says that as much as 90% of the published medical information that doctors rely on is flawed. Continue reading →
"500 people would need to be treated with Crestor for a year to avoid one usually survivable heart attack. Stroke numbers were similar…At $3.50 a pill, the cost of prescribing Crestor to 500 people for a year would be $638,000 to prevent one heart attack." Continue reading →
Repeat legal violations: The record of recidivism by major drug manufacturers is a matter of public record.
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Documents uncovered during the course of litigation shed light on real risks of drug-induced harm that would not otherwise be known. Continue reading →
FDA's slip-shod approval of defective, harmful drugs, accompanied by rubber stampped endorsements by compromised FDA advisory committees may be reaching a boiling point.
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FDA Rejects Crestor Petition–Sacrificing Patient safety Tue, 15 Mar 2005 The FDA’s safety standard for allowing a drug to be marketed has been turned on its head. The law requires that a manufacturer provide scientific proof that a drug is safe and . . . Continue reading →
Cholesterol lowering drug, Crestor Linked to Patient Death Tue, 11 Jan 2005 Crestor, a highly advertised cholesterol-lowering drug in the statin class–as was Bayer’s drug Baycol, which was withdrawn from market after 30 patients died of rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of skeletal muscle fibers), . . . Continue reading →
NIH: Public Servant or Private Marketer? NIH Seeks Outside Inquiry of Alzheimer’s researcher conflicts of interest – LAT Mon, 31 Jan 2005 A year after the Los Angeles Times published its first an in-depth investigative report documenting in detail evidence of major . . . Continue reading →
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 . . . Continue reading →