FDA Issues Public Health Advisory Entitled Reports Of Suicidality in Pediatric Mon, 27 Oct 2003 The FDA issued a warning about the suicide risk for children prescribed an antidepressant of the SSRI class. These drugs have never been shown to be more effective than placebo for the treatment of depression–which…
GSK Sales Reps told NOT to Divulge Paxil Data / Merck Withdraws Vioxx Thu, 30 Sep 2004 The Associated Press reports: “Merck pulled Vioxx after admitting studies showed the drug raised the risk of heart attack. As recently as August, Merck “strongly” disagreed with studies showing the drug increased heart…
Letter from David Healy, MD to Peter J. Pitts Executive Summary of suicidal evidence not addressed by FDA In the light of Traci Johnson’s death on February 7th 2004, will FDA obtain Pfizer’s entire folder on the 1982 Hindmarch study in which healthy volunteers were given Zoloft, and make a…
Are we all going mad, or are the experts crazy? / Are psychiatric drugs an assault on the human condition? Fri, 19 Aug 2005 Below, two companion pieces: An Op Ed in the Los Angeles Times, by Stuart Kirk, a professor of social welfare at UCLA, addresses psychiatry’s conundum: the…
Janssen Pharma Admits Hiding Risperdal Drug Risks / TMAP & Illinois Mental Health Screening Plan Sat, 24 Jul 2004 The Miami Herald reports (below) that in a letter to doctors, Janssen Pharmacia, manufacturer of the highly promoted drug, Risperdal (risperidone), admitted “misleading doctors and other healthcare providers about the safety…
Member of UK Parliament Accuses Drugs Giant of ‘Voodoo Medicine’ – Scotsman Wed, 25 Feb 2004 Paul Flynn, Member of UK Parliament raised the antidepressant drug scandal in Parliament, focusing on the British drug manufacturer giant, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). “The Seroxat [Paxil] scandal is one of gigantic proportions that affects millions…
British Shake-up for drug licensing body Thu, 11 Nov 2004 “The damage done by the public believing they have been lied to or defrauded is difficult to repair.” A shake up is taking place in the UK as the culture of secrecy and the pharmaceutical industry’s influence on the Medicines…
FDA Asks Antidepressant drug companies to add Cautions on labels Mon, 22 Mar 2004 The FDA has “requested” drug companies to put prominent warnings on the labels of 10 antidepressant drugs, “to include stronger cautions and warnings about the need to monitor patients for the worsening of depression and the…
APA Under the Influence of PhaRma June 5, 2002 FYI Reporters who attended the 2002 annual convention of the American Association of Psychiatry / PhaRma have had a rude awakening about the scope of industry’s influence. Essentially, psychiatrists are drug marketers for industry, helping to create blockbuster sales: Â Even…
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…
Alternative Medicine is a national magazine with 165,000 subscribers. It is also sold nationwide on newsstands. Its cover story, Nov/Dec, is Kids & Psychiatric Drugs: BIG PHARMA comes to the classroom!
Success in academic psychiatry is not measured in the improvement of patients' mental health, but rather in quantifiable commercial tender.How many grants one brings to the university, how many publications one churns out each year, and how many corporate and professional advisory boards one serves on–and how much money one…
