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…
Children in "Hot Demand" for Clinical Trials May 31, 2002 FYI Rachel Zimmerman of The Wall Street Journal reports about the "frenzy" to recruit children for drug trials. The inclusion of children in drug trials allows pharmaceutical companies to cash in on six month patent exclusivity extensions worth hundreds of millions of dollars….
Schizophrenia drugs increase diabetes risk Fri, 29 Aug 2003 A large scale study by the Veterans Administration corroborates a body of evidence demonstrating that the much touted “improved” newer drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia–Zyprexa, Risperdal, Seroquesl– are precipitating the onset of diabetes at alarming rates– especially among younger patients….
“Black Hole” of medical research–Negative Results Don’t get Published – JAMA, WSJ Sat, 5 Jun 2004 “No one likes bad news. But in science, there is an ethical imperative to publish research, even if the findings aren’t what the researcher had hoped for.” The New York Times, which tends to…
Doctors Without Borders: Why you can’t trust medical journals anymore Tue, 13 Apr 2004 Related link: Hear an interview with Shannon Brownlee on NPR at: http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1874563 Doctors Without Borders in the Washington Monthly (excerpt below), looks at the intricate web of collaborating players in medicine who are financially tied one…
Petition FDA to Investigate if SSRI Induced School Shootings Fri, 25 Mar 2005 The Minnesota shooting rampage by 16-year old Jeff Weise, prompted the parent organization, Ablechild.org, to petition the FDA to conduct “a full investigation into the possible SSRI induced school shootings.” “It took 15 years for the FDA…
Hearing on Antidepressants Canceled – Washington Post Wed, 21 Jul 2004 The Washington Post confirms AHRP’s assessment about the real reason for the derailment of a much awaited congressional hearing at which the giants of the pharmaceutical industry were to testify: “A Democratic staff member who spoke on the condition…
AMA Serves Pharma Marketing Priority/ FDA To Add Warnings on ADHD drugs–Concerta, Ritalin, Strattera, Adderall Wed, 29 Jun 2005 The FDA is finally taking note of the fact that many drugs prescribed for the treatment of psychiatric problems are CAUSING serious psychiatric and cardiovascular problems in children and adolescents !…
FDA Advisory Suicide Risk for Adults on Antidepressants / Advisory Committee Resistant to issue Warnings on ADHD drugs Fri, 1 Jul 2005 Under public and congressional pressure to disclose fully the hazardous effects of widely prescribed drugs, the FDA is beginning to acknowledge the long-denied evidence: psychotropic drugs may INDUCE…
Leading Antipsychotic Drugs Come Under New Scrutiny – NYT Tuesday, May 20, 2003 A front page article in The New York Times reveals that the pillars of American psychiatry–including Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, Dr. John Kane, Dr. William Carpenter–are acknowledging that evidence is lacking to support the claims that the new…
Superiority of Zyprexa (Olanzapine) Challenged Mon, 1 Dec 2003 “The profound issue in health care is do we pay anything — regardless of the price — for a statistically significant benefit?” A major 12 month randomized study compared the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of Eli Lilly’s $3.7 billion blockbuster schizophrenia…
NIH Under Fire: Longtime Favorite of Congress – Wash Post / WSJ Sun, 27 Jun 2004 Under fire from Congress with evidence of NIH staff engaging in secret outside contracts and consultancies, NIH Director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, turned a corner. He acknowledged the problem at a hearing (June 22) of…
