Columbia Journalism Review–The Complicity of the Media in Drug Marketing Wed, 27 Jul 2005 An excellent article in the Columbia Journalism Review examines pharmaceutical industry hype and the media’s role in helping that industry create false impressions about the safety and benefits of newly marketed drugs: “stories trumpeting new drugs…
NIH: Public Servant or Private Marketer? NIH Seeks Outside Inquiry of Alzheimer’s researcher conflicts of interest – LAT Mon, 31 Jan 2005 A year after the Los Angeles Times published its first an in-depth investigative report documenting in detail evidence of major conflicts of interest by top scientists at the…
August 26, 2002 OHRP Retreats from Providing Public Info re: Compliance Activities FYI A newly posted announcement by the Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP), dated July 15, rescinds the agency’s announced policy of making public the content of its letters of determination following the agency’s investigation of compliance /…
Guidant Didn’t Disclose a Flaw in Defibrillator for 3 Years_NYT / FDA Wrong on Crestor Safety Tue, 24 May 2005 The New York Times reports that the maker a a heart defirillator knew for 3 years about a malfunction and failed to inform physicians about It because the company “had…
NIH Panel Recommendations Fail to Resolve Conflicts of Interest Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 Following the disclosure by the Los Angeles Times (December 2003) that “NIH officials now allow more than 94% of the agency’s top-paid employees to keep their consulting income confidential,” Congress demanded full disclosure and an overhaul…
Psychiatry and Preschoolers Tue, 1 Jul 2003 There was a time that doctors followed the precautionary “do no harm” principle when prescribing drugs. But the practice of medicine has changed radically as physicians have increasingly become financially tied to the pharmaceutical industry. Among psychiatrists it is difficult to find one…
Science & Ethics Hold Up EPA Nomination: pesticide experiment draws fire Fri, 08 Apr 2005 The Los Angeles Times reports that Senator Bill Nelson of Florida is equally outraged about the Environmental Protection Agency pesticide experiment that would expose 60 poor babies to pesticides to study how much harm they…
NIH Conflict of Interest Rules_”Option of Corruption”_ children victimized Tue, 18 May 2004 Lawmakers accused leaders of the National Institutes of Health of encouraging “the option of corruption.” NIH medical researchers, who receive the highest salaries in government, think they, unlike others, are entitled to moonlight while employed at taxpayers…
FDA Approves Lilly’s Growth Hormone for Healthy Children Mon, 28 Jul 2003 The FDA has approved Eli Lilly’s injectable human growth hormone (hGH) therapy, Humatrope, for healthy children who are short but have no hormonal deficiency. Lilly claims that its trials in 300 healthy short children resulted in an increase…
Will NIH Ban on Consulting Deals with Drug Firms Set an Ethical Example? LAT / NYT Wed, 2 Feb 2005 The Los Angeles Times, whose investigative reports about conflicts of interest at the National Institutes of Health, shook the foundations of NIH by prying open the vaults that contained secret…
Congress & the White House must remedy a prescription for danger – LA Times / CBS News Thu, 1 Apr 2004 For those who missed the CBS evening News broadcast (Tues March 30) about FDA’s suppression of evidence, a video of that powerful report can be viewed online. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/30/eveningnews/main609491.shtml CBS…
Hemophiliacs File Suit Against Bayer for selling Tainted Blood product Tue, 3 Jun 2003 The Los Angeles Times reports that two weeks after The New York Times reported that Bayer documents reveal that the company sold tainted blood-clotting medicine for hemophiliacs that carried a high risk of transmitting AIDS to…
