Philadelphia Daily News Pharma Influence: Penn Psychiatrist Files Whistleblower Lawsuit – Investigtion Confirms Medicare Chief Lied to Congress Wed, 7 Jul 2004 “Drug companies not only write checks to hospitals, they write checks to politicians…They write checks to both sides of the aisle.” Two separate news reports provide a glimpse…
Drugmakers Go Furthest to Sway Congress: 1,274 Lobbyists – USA Today Tue, 26 Apr 2005 USA Today provides a glimpse into the way the pharmaceutical industry controls health care policy by buying influence at the highest level of government, and underwriting professional and lay healthcare organizations whose spokespersons parrot industry’s…
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2005 Crestor, a highly advertised cholesterol-lowering drug in the statin class–as was Bayer’s drug Baycol, which was withdrawn from market after 30 patients died of rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of skeletal muscle fibers), has been linked to a patient’s death. “AstraZeneca…
Drug Companies Move Trials Outside the US Tue, 17 May 2005 Unless the FDA cracks down by enforcing safety and scientific standards in clinical trials, the drug industry is moving its drug trials out of any regulatory oversight. USA Today reports that 50% of trials sponsored by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals were…
BBC Panorama: Unprecedented public response to evidence of SSRI drug harm Wed, 21 May 2003 In a stunning follow up to its investigative report, The Secret of Seroxat, aired October 13, 2002, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) featured the public responses to its earlier program as the focus of its…
July 12, 2002 Babies Exposed to Toxic Vaccines FYI Several recent articles focus on unsafe vaccines: ABC News reports (below) that 3,400 people, half of them children, “received the questionable vaccines from Park Nicollet Clinic in the Minneapolis metropolitan area. The vaccines included polio booster shots, hepatitis A and B…
FDA reviews depression drugs–Intense or Cautious? WashPost/ NYT/ Herald Wed, 29 Oct 2003 The Washington Post correctly reports: “The association between antidepressants, particularly the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), and suicide has been controversial since the first SSRI, Prozac, came on the market in the late 1980s.” But stakeholders in…
What Parents Aren’t Being told about their Kids Antidepressants – A Suicide Side-Effect? – SF Chronicle Sat, 10 Jan 2004 An in-depth article in The San Francisco Chronicle reveals how the hidden hazards of SSRIs put adolescents’ lives in danger. For one 16 year old teenager, Paxil posed greater risks…
FDA Strong Drug Ties-Less Monitoring – UK MHRA Mon, 6 Dec 2004 A front page article in The New York Times provides a historical perspective to the shift in FDA’s focus (in 1992) from watchdog safeguarding the public against hazardous drugs, food and medical devices, to its current role as…
Fast growing business: Unethical clinical trials in India – Asia Times Tue, 27 Jul 2004 Asia Times reports: “India increasingly emerges as a preferred destination for outsourcing clinical trials – testing of new drugs on humans – the country may also be heading toward providing the greatest source of human…
Drug Warnings: Are They Effective? USA Today Tue, 26 Apr 2005 How effective are drug warnings? USA Today reports that experts are unsure. For example, a study in the January issue of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety focused on Ohio Medicaid claims for Rezulin prescriptions – the diabetes drug had been…
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…
