FDA’s Double Standard Re: Advisory Committee Membership Mon, 15 Nov 2004 FDA’s inexplicable actions–the latest being the removal of Dr. Curt Furberg from an FDA advisory committee for alleged "intellectual conflict of interest" – demonstrate hypocracy and intellectual dishonesty. Dr. Furberg independently analyzed the scientific data, concluding: "The result is…
Federal Study Finds No Benefit of New Antipsychotic Drugs – WashPost/Wall StreetJ/NY Times Tue, 20 Sep 2005 The findings of a $44 million government sponsored study, CATIE, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, comparing an older generic antipsychotic to four new atypical antipsychotics, undercut the legitimacy of psychiatry’s…
AHRP Campaign to Protect Children from Harm Oct 15: FDA Orders Black Box Warnings on Antidepressants labels and Patient Information Guides to Warn about Suicide risk Oct 3: BBC PANORAMA TONIGHT – Taken on Trust – 13 years-Medical Deception Sep 30: GSK Sales Reps told NOT to Divulge Paxill Data…
Forbes: Judgment Day for the FDA, Pfizer Wed, 9 Feb 2005 On Feb. 16-18 COX-2 Inhibitor Safety Issues will be the focus of an FDA Advisory Committee and (simultaneously) the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The entire drug industry will be watching with bated breath. Which causal explanation will be offered…
Medication switched for research purposes – patient nearly dies Tue, 11 Nov 2003 The Boston Globe reports that an investigation by a state oversight agency, “uncovered numerous ethical violations at the Solomon Carter Fuller Mental Health Center by Boston Medical Center physicians contracted to treat patients there.” Boston University Medical…
Just Say No – Forbes Tue, 16 Nov 2004 When Mrs. Nancy Reagan coined the phrase, Just Say No, she was referring to illicit drug pushers. The current Forbes cover story–Just Say No–refers to the prescription drug industry. "In a perverse kind of symbiosis, the cascade of disease and medical…
Lilly to Add Suicide Warning to Strattera – Medicaid May shrink $5.5 Billion spending on Schizophrenia Drug Thu, 29 Sep 2005 Reuters reports that Eli Lilly is adding a Black Box suicide warning to the Strattera label. Strattera has been promoted as a “non stimulant” treatment for ADHD. Since ADHD…
China Daily A farming family’s recollection 2003-09-25 http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/2003-09/25/content_267233.htm Near-death experience after 55-year-old father of four inhales ‘fog-like’ spray China Features reporters XIONG LEI and WEN CHIHUA recently visited Zongyang County, in East China’s Anhui Province, to further dig into the allegations surrounding Harvard’s genetic studies in China. Their investigation was…
10 of 32 FDA Vioxx Panelists Had Industry Ties_NYT / Cozy NIH Review “Clears” NIH Industry Ties_WashPost Fri, 25 Feb 2005 The latest example of the corrupting influence of the pharmaceutical industry on health care policy is the composition of FDA’s advisory panel that last week endorsed the marketing of…
A Special Article By Curt D. Furberg, MD, PhD; Arthur A. Levin, MPH; Peter A. Gross, MD; Robyn S. Shapiro, JD; Brian L. Strom, MD, MPH
Two actions by the FDA last week demonstrate where the agency’s priority lies—and that priority is NOT to protect public safety, NOT to protect children’s safety. FDA’s priority—as demonstrated by its actions—is approval of new drugs or approval for expanded even dubious uses of patented drugs.
“a study published yesterday overturns conventional wisdom about antipsychotic drugs, which cost the United States $10 billion a year.”
