AHRP Campaign to Protect Children from Harm Oct 15: FDA Orders Black Box Warnings on Antidepressants labels and Patient Information Guides to Warn about Suicide risk Oct 3: BBC PANORAMA TONIGHT – Taken on Trust – 13 years-Medical Deception Sep 30: GSK Sales Reps told NOT to Divulge Paxill Data…
A Serious Drug Problem – The Medicare Prescription Bill of 2003 – Krugman Fri, 6 May 2005 New York Times columnist, Paul Krugman, hits the nail on the head when he points out who the beneficiaries of the Medicare law really are: Why it’s Big Pharma and those this industry…
Protecting Editorial Integrity – Dr. Stefan Kreuszewski BMJ Sun, 6 Feb 2005 In his BMJ editorial, “A tough nut to crack,” Kamran Abassi writes: “The drug industry considers the BMJ a tough nut to crack,” an insider recently told us. Publishing a “favourable” research paper is far trickier in the…
At FDA, Graham is still the whistle-blower – USA Today Thu, 17 Nov 2005 On Nov. 18, 2004, Dr. David Graham, FDA’s associate director for science and medicine, blew the whistle in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, on FDA’s “profound regulatory failure” to protect the public against lethal prescription…
FDA says it Screened Panelists for Conflicts of Interest Tue, 1 Mar 2005 Bloomberg News reports that the Center for Science in the Public Interest had identified not 10, but 27 panelists on FDA’s advisory panel who had financial ties to drug manufacturers. Last week The New York Times reported…
Fast growing business: Unethical clinical trials in India – Asia Times Tue, 27 Jul 2004 Asia Times reports: “India increasingly emerges as a preferred destination for outsourcing clinical trials – testing of new drugs on humans – the country may also be heading toward providing the greatest source of human…
Drug safety Hearings-Sept-Congress/ FDA – Lilly Plans to Disclose Data Tue, 3 Aug 2004 A hearing about the possible connection between suicide and antidepressant drugs will be held on Aug 4, by the California Senate by Sen. Tom Torkalson, chairman of the Senate Task Force on Youth and Workplace Wellness…
Warning-Caution – Antidepressant Dilemma – NYT Magazine Mon, 22 Nov 2004 Tolstoy wisely observed: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Suicide is the ultimate tragedy affecting a family; the circumstances surrounding one person’s suicide are not transferable. The cover of Sunday’s New…
Zolft pediatric study in JAMA challenged by peers – JAMA letters Fri, 9 Jan 2004 At the time that two manufacturers publicly acknowledged that their antidepressant drugs (Paxil / Seroxat and Effexor) were unsafe, and ineffective for children, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a clinical trial…
Medicare Rx Drug Bill Shaped by Drug Industry Blocks Elderly Bargaining Power – NYT Fri, 5 Sep 2003 A drug industry lobbyist is quoted in The New York Times stating: “Having both houses of Congress Republican-controlled was great. Like in Monopoly, when you get to add hotels.” The Medicare prescription…
FDA Slaps Pfizer on Zoloft Ads After AHRP Files Complaint Sat, 07 May 2005 On November 4, 2004, AHRP filed a complaint with the FDA about a two page Pfizer advertisement for its SSRI antidepressant, Zoloft. The ad appeared in The New York Times Magazine in October 2004, but Pfizer…
Testing Psychotropic Drugs in Children April 30, 2002 David Healy, MD University of Wales College of Medicine April 30th 2002. The background against which this paper is prepared is that in 1997 I organized, chaired and wrote up the recommendations from an International Roundtable Meeting for the British Association for…
