4 compelling reasons against Mental Health Parity

4 compelling reasons against Mental Health Parity Fri, 12 Sep 2003 Compelling reasons NOT to approve insurance parity for mental health services come from the following recent reports suggesting that mental health services and treatments have often done more damage than good. Until psychiatry and mental health service providers develop…

Practice Guidelines: Can We Trustthe Evidence in Evidence-Based Medicine?

Practice Guidelines: Can We Trustthe Evidence in Evidence-Based Medicine? Sun, 25 Sep 2005 “Research and Clinical Practice Guidelines: Can We Trust the Evidence in Evidence-Based Medicine?” is an article by Dr. John Abramson* (Harvard) and Dr. Barbara Starfeld (Distinguished Professor, Johns Hopkins), published in the Journal of the American Board…

Infomail Archive 2005

Infomail 2005 News Stories on Human Research Protection and Commentary by Vera Hassner Sharav Subscribe to the AHRP infomail list Dec 16: Drugs, Devices & Doctors – NYT Paul Krugman Dec 11: Scientific Fraud & Corruption on Both sides of Atlantic: Merck / Proctor & Gamble Dec 11: Gov Accountability…

Lies & Broken Promises – Drug firm Websites Fail to Disclose Test Data

Lies & Broken Promises_Drug firm Websites Fail to Disclose Test Data Sun, 9 Jan 2005 One year after PhRMA’s publicized proclamation of its “commitment to transparency” The Boston Globe reviewed pharmaceutical company websites searching for disclosure of clinical trial data. The Globe found that this voluntary approach failed miserably: “Last…

Pfizer Nears Drug Settlement

Pfizer Nears Drug Settlement Sun, 16 Mar 2003 A 7-year lawsuit filed by Dr. David Franklin, the former Harvard fellow turned whistle blower, may be reaching a resolution. The suit accuses Warner Lambert (now Pfizer) of illegally promoting the epilepsy drug, Neurontin, for conditions not approved or tested. His lawsuit…

FATAL FLAW Efforts to Overturn SSRI Black Box warning before it has even been implemented

FATAL FLAW Efforts to Overturn SSRI Black Box warning before it has even been implemented Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 Even as the Black Box Suicidality Warning on SSRI antidepressant labels have not even been implemented, aggressive efforts are underway by a powerful consortium of medical-pharmaceuticaql self-interest groups – among…

"Anthrax vaccine a deadly defense?" –NW Indiana Times

“Anthrax vaccine a deadly defense?” –NW Indiana Times Tue, 24 Jun 2003 U.S. Army Reserve Spc. Rachael Lacy, 22, is a casualty of the military forced anthrax vaccination program–which is administered by military commanders, not doctors. She “died in April after receiving the [anthrax] vaccination, along with a smallpox inoculation….

Psychiatry’s Claims Re: Brain Imaging Have Far Outpaced Science – NYT

Psychiatry’s Claims Re: Brain Imaging Have Far Outpaced Science – NYT Tue, 18 Oct 2005 A front page report in The New York Times Science section pulls the rug out from yet another of psychiatry’s myths. Benedict Carey reports: “Not long ago, scientists predicted that these images, produced by sophisticated…

Serono to pay $704 million for Illegal Marketing AIDS drug and "voodoolike" clinical trials – NYT

Serono to pay $704 million for Illegal Marketing AIDS drug and “voodoolike” clinical trials – NYT Thu, 20 Oct 2005 Another scandal involving corrupt criminal marketing by a bio-pharmaceutical company that illegally marketed an AIDS test and drug by enlisting physicians to prescribe its drug. The New York Times reports…

20% Drop in Psych Drugs Prescribed for US Children – WashPost

20% Drop in Psych Drugs Prescribed for US Children – WashPost Sat, 8 Oct 2005 The Washington Post reports (below) that prescriptions for antidepressants for children have dropped an unprecedented 20% in the US. A continuing series of substantiated reports and Black Box warnings about an increased risk of suicide,…

Protecting People w Mental Disabilities & Impairments against Biomedical Research Abuse

Protecting People with Mental Disabilities and Impairments against Biomedical Research Abuse[*] By John H. Noble, Jr., Ph.D, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA Vera Hassner Sharav, MLS, Alliance for Human Research Protection, New York, USA People with mental disabilities and impairments historically have been targeted by biomedical researchers…