Pfizer Admits Guilt in Promotion of Neurontin–Agrees to Pay $430 Million Sun, 16 May 2004 A lawsuit initiated by Dr. David Franklin, a whistleblower, has been settled: Pfizer pleaded guilty to criminal fraud in the promotion of Neurontin, and agreed to pay $430 million. This case is but an example…
NYU Students Drugged – NY Post Mon, 19 Apr 2004 Following three suicides by students at New York University (in Sept-October 2003), the University conducted an investigation of the NYU Student Counseling Services. The New York Post reports that an internal 116-page report (December 2003) reveals that whereas drugs were…
Safety of American Drugs Questioned – Assoc Press Thu, 2 Dec 2004 In his CNN news program last evening, Lou Dobbs said the question is no longer whether something is wrong with the FDA’s performance in protecting the public from unsafe drugs–but whether the FDA can even be salvaged? The…
Medicare Will cover New Treatments But Patients Will be Required to Enroll in Clinical Trials Fri, 5 Nov 2004 Dr. Mark McClellan, Director of Medicare, estimates that of Medicare’s $320 billion budget, “a third of all medical expenditures are for unnecessary or ill-advised treatments.” Medicare’s chief medical officer, Dr. Sean…
Glaxo chief executive angry over NYS AG lawsuit – Telegraph Tue, 8 Jun 2004 The significance of the lawsuit filed by NYS Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, has infuriated Jean-Pierre Garnier, GlaxoSmithKline’s CEO. As Money.Telegraph (UK) reports (below), the AG suit carries a significance beyond the money sought. “Reputationally, however, the…
Screening for Mental Illness–A Diabolical, Profit-Enhancing Experiment Fri, 22 Oct 2004 Concerned citizen groups are joining our effort to stop the government from implementing a sweeping recommendation for lifetime screening for mental illness. If implemented, the first to be screened for hidden mental illness are America’s 52 million school children…
July 12, 2002 Duke Warning: Zyprexa-Diabetes Link FYI Since they arrived on the market in the 1990s, the so-called ‘atypicial’ antipsychotic drugs have been wrapped in controversy and promotional hype by drug companies and their paid professional spin masters who made bald claims about their “favorable side effect profile” referring…
Drug Tested in Gulf War Is Approved for Troops_NYT Thu, 6 Feb 2003 The New York Times reports that FDA has approved the drug, pyridostigmine bromide for use by the military. The drug had been used experimentally during the Gulf War in 1991. It has been the center of controversy…
Antidepressant Ban for Kids Puts Pressure On U.S. / Canada Mon, 15 Dec 2003 The British government ban for use of all but one SSRI antidepressant drug in children and teens (Dec 10, 2003) is reverberating wherever these drugs are widely prescribed. The action was taken after an independent committee…
Lead author of JAMA article rethinks positive Zoloft report – Guardian Wed, 1 Oct 2003 In August 2003, the Sertraline Pediatric Study Group reported: “Sertraline-treated patients experienced statistically significantly greater improvement than placebo.” Their report was published in the authoritative Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). The authors claimed…
FDA Warning Letter: child died from overdose during clinical trial Monday, May 05, 2003 The FDA’s letter of warning to Jacqueline M. Halton, M.D. Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, a participating investigator in a National Cancer Institute pediatric trial describes multiple safety violations–including massive overdoses–that led to the death of…
FDA Is Flexing Less Muscle where Safety is the Issue – Wash Post Thu, 18 Nov 2004 The Washington Post examines FDA’s record of surveillance and the evidence is clear: since 1992 when Congress required drug companies to pay users fees to the FDA, the agency’s focus changed from safety…
