Additional information as of late Wed Oct 19: Although I was assured that attendance for a presentation by Dr. David Healy (at Columbia University School of Public Health on Oct. 20 at 12:30) would be open to the public, a problem seems to have emerged after an AHRP Infomail about…
Antidepressant Use in Children Soars Despite Efficacy Doubts – Washington Post Mon, 19 Apr 2004 A front page article by Shankar Vedantam in The Washington Post examines the soaring increase in the antidepressant drug prescriptions for children, noting: “The explosion in antidepressant use occurred even though the vast majority of…
FDA Foot Dragging – Three Months After Expert Panel Urged “Black Box” Warnings for Antidepressants, No Action Thu, 23 Dec 2004 Why is the FDA failing to enforce the "Black Box" warnings on SSRI antidepressant drug labels? When questioned by the NJ Star Ledger, Robert Temple, director of the FDA’s…
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…
Op Ed: Psychiatry on the Ropes–WP / Evidence-based Psychiatry– Multi-Discipline Conference_ NYC Mon, 4 Oct 2004 An Op Ed article in The Washington Post by Shannon Brownlee (below) nails the elite procurers of psychotropic drugs who have long denied the ominous signals of drug-induced harm: “You’d think the psychiatric research…
Wyeth Pharma Warns Doctors Against Rx Effexor to Kids Tue, 2 Sep 2003 View Wyeth Warning Letter The Hartford Courant reports that the latest warning against prescribing an antidepressant drug for children comes from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, makers of Effexor, a drug just like Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil–a class known as…
UK Doctors told to stop giving antidepressants to children – Glaxo Warns of Paxil Birth Defects Wed, 28 Sep 2005 Related Link – See Guidelines at: http://www.nice.org.uk/page.aspx?o=273073 The UK National Health Service has taken a decisive, responsible step to protect the lives of children who are being exposed to serious risks…
Sen Schumer asks FDA to place hold on Paxil for kids Fri, 13 Jun 2003 Senator Charles Schumer held a press conference in New York to announce that he had written to Mark McClellan, FDA Commissioner to investigate the adverse effects of Paxil, the SSRI antidepressant on children and teens,…
Randomized Controlled Trials: Evidence Biased Psychiatry By David Healy, MD MRCPsych Introduction A new drug gets introduced to the market. It has been approved after stringent scrutiny by the FDA, which requires ever more convincing evidence that it works and that its safe. The new treatment will always cost more…
Fewer Kids Prescribed Drugs for Depression – WashPost Wed, 2 Feb 2005 A report by Medco revealing a decline in SSRI prescriptions for children is giving drug industry stakeholders nightmares about the cash flow. The Washington Post reports "medical groups such as the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy…
20% Drop in Psych Drugs Prescribed for US Children – WashPost Sat, 8 Oct 2005 The Washington Post reports (below) that prescriptions for antidepressants for children have dropped an unprecedented 20% in the US. A continuing series of substantiated reports and Black Box warnings about an increased risk of suicide,…
GlaxoSmithKline CEO: “We had to absorb a number of hits” Mon, 16 Feb 2004 Antidepressant drug safety issues are beginning to have a financial impact. Dow Jones reports: “GlaxoSmithKline PLC said its net income fell 6% in the fourth quarter, hurt by previously announced legal costs related to its anti-inflammatory…
