More Drugs Slapped with Lawsuits_Science Misconduct Blog
USA Today reports that last year the pharmaceutical industry "faced the most product liability lawsuits of any other industry."
Merck loses Two Vioxx liability cases in one day
The verdict is th fourth multi-million dollar loss for Merck in Vioxx litigation.
Study: Antipsychotics Not Effective for Childhood Schizophrenia
Industry’s blockbuster sellers–the atypical antipsychotics performed WORSE than their cheaper, non-patented precursors.
Congress to Probe NIH Conflict of Interest Policies
Congressional leaders have lost patience with the cat and mouse game being played by officials of the National Institutes of Health.
Journals Must Exercise Their Authority as Gatekeepers
The harm done by journals’ failure to protect the integrity of science can hardly be overstated.
Staff Survey Confirms FDA Officials Tamper with Science_ Grassley Seeks Investigation of FDA
Bloomberg News reports (below) that Senator Charles Grassley has asked the Inspector General to investigate collusion between FDA officials and Merck. Citing handwritten notes prepared by a Merck executive document a meeting with FDA division director, Brian Harvey, suggesting a joint effort "to get the message out" to discredit Dr….
LAT Investigation: NIH Scientist Ties to Pharma
The latest investigative report focusing on financial conflicts of interest by Pulitzer Prize winner, David Willman of the Los Angeles Times, reveals that even as the NIH director, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, announced publicly last year that scientists at the National Institutes of Health would be barred from accepting consulting fees from industry, evidence shows that the ban is clearly not being enforced.
Harvard / Stanford–Psychiatrists’ Financial Ties to Industry
Two probing first rate investigative reports document how psychiatry’s treatments are shaped by "opinion leaders" whose professional recommendations are compromised by their substantial, largely undisclosed, financial ties to drug companies.
Conflicts of Interest: Stanford University
An investigative report in Mercury News (below) focuses on Stanford University department heads, associate deans and other leaders because “these are senior people who set the tone at the medical school and are role models for junior faculty members.”
Can We Tame the Monster?
"Drug companies should not be allowed to evaluate their own products."
NVIC Calls Merck & FDA “Not Completely Honest” Re: Pre-adolescent HPV Vaccine Safety
The FDA appears to have learned nothing from recent catastrophic disasters.
NEJM Vioxx Safety Correction / Consumers International Accuses Industry–Unscrupulous Marketing
Once again, the New England Journal of Medicine (July 13, 2006) has had to eat crow after it published false and misleading clinical trial findings.