Pfizer PainKiller Bextra withdrawn from market, New Boxed Warnings for Celebrex Thu, 07 Apr 2005 Pfizer’s withdrawal of the COX-2 pain reliever, Bextra, from the market because of potentially lethal side effects, including increased risk of cardiovascular malfunction and severe rash, validates Dr. David Graham’s analysis. This FDA medical expert…
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4696609 Documents Suggest Merck Tried to Censor Vioxx Critics NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO All Things Considered, June 9, 2005 – Because of intense interest in this report, NPR has decided to present a full transcript. Introduction: At least 38,000 Americans are believed to have died from taking the pain pill Vioxx…
“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…
Intimidation, Politics and Drug Industry Cripple U.S. Medicine – FDA Permits Dr. David Graham to publish Vioxx Report Wed, 5 Jan 2005 FDA officials could not maintain their iron grip in an effort to suppress evidence of far reaching lethal effects of Vioxx when their actions were in full public…
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…
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…
Follow the Money / Can the Institute of Medicine Review the FDA? Wed, 6 Apr 2005 A letter to the editor published in Nature Medicine by Dr. Bernard Carroll, a past chairman of the FDA Advisory Committee for Psychotropic Drugs, and past chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Duke…
Merck / Johnson & Johnson/ Lilly-Zyprexa: $690 Million settlement / a Flowering of Diabetes Drugs Fri, 10 Jun 2005 A cluster of news reports about three pillars of the pharmaceutical industry– Merck, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson–leave no doubt that this industry has shown its disregard for the welfare…
Pharma Efforts to Bar Placebo Responders from Trials – WSJ Fri, 25 Jun 2004 A clinical trial report in The Lancet debunks the value of Aricept, a popular drug prescribed for Alzheimer’s patients. The findings of a three-year placebo controlled trial show that: “Although the patients taking the drug did…
Alabama Filed Suit against 79 Drug companies Medicaid Overcharges Sat, 29 Jan 2005 The prescription drug industry is continuing to fleece the American taxpayer – Alabama filed a lawsuit charging 79 drug companies – among them the giants, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Brsitol-Myers, and Merck – for "intentionally" misreporting and inflating…
Just Say No – Forbes Tue, 16 Nov 2004 When Mrs. Nancy Reagan coined the phrase, Just Say No, she was referring to illicit drug pushers. The current Forbes cover story–Just Say No–refers to the prescription drug industry. "In a perverse kind of symbiosis, the cascade of disease and medical…
UK reports the FDA Conceals Vital Data on Prescription Drugs – Independent Sun, 12 Jun 2005 The entire world has trusted the FDA to ensure that only safe and effective drugs are approved for marketing–other agencies, lacking the necessary resources often followed FDA’s lead. However, such deferrence is no longer…
