At FDA, Changes In Name Only–Agency Puts Business interests Above Safety Fri, 30 Sep 2005 The sudden resignation of FDA Commissioner, Lester Crawford, after just two months in office, has prompted a bipartisan Senate investigation and requests both by the Senate committee HELP and by congressman Maurice Hinchey (NY) and…
Cholesterol lowering drug, Crestor Linked to Patient Death Tue, 11 Jan 2005 Crestor, a highly advertised cholesterol-lowering drug in the statin class–as was Bayer’s drug Baycol, which was withdrawn from market after 30 patients died of rhabdomyolysis (breakdown of skeletal muscle fibers), has been linked to a patient’s death. “AstraZeneca…
More Spent on Psych Drugs for preschool kids than antibiotics or asthma – AP Mon, 17 May 2004 Data analysis by MEDCO, the nation’s largest prescription benefit manager found that between 2000–2003 there was a 49% increase in the use of psychotropic drugs for children and a 369% increase in…
Worldwide Drug Industry Ailing – PhaRMA Giants Reeling Blockbuster Drugs Found Hazardous Sat, 18 Dec 2004 Daily headlines provide confirmatory evidence supporting what critics of the drug industry have been say:ing for years. First, as The New York Times notes in one of its 4 articles about the latest “unexpected”…
“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…
Go Slow on Mental Health Screening: Dr. Karen Effrem responds to New Freedom Commission Chair, Michael Hogan – Wash Times Sun, 31 Oct 2004 A letter to the editor in the Washington Times – Go slow on Mental Health Screening – by AHRP’s newest board member, pediatrician Dr. Karen Effrem,…
Time to put drug giants on trial – Scotsman (UK) Fri, 20 Jun 2003 The UK media-including BBC, the Guardian, the Scotsman, the London Times, and others–have been informing the British public about the hidden health hazards underlying the industry-controlled drug approval and drug marketing process. Current practices have led…
Pfizer Acknowledges It Failed to Reveal Celebrex cardiac risk found in 1999 trial Tue, 1 Feb 2005 The New York Times reports: “Responding to the Vioxx withdrawal [Sept. 30, 2004], Pfizer said in October that no completed study had ever shown any increased heart risks related to Celebrex. Then, in…
Risks: Drugs / Vaccines / Trials / Treatment Evidence of antidepressant harm Oct 14, 2005: Andrew Finkelstein Letter to Dr. Russell Katz, Director, Neuropharmacological Drug Products, FDA about FDA’s Failure to Warn about Neurontin-Suicides Aug 29: FDA Response to Utah Court Must Be Truthful Re: Zoloft / SSRI Suicidal Risks…
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…
Below the New York Times provides a summary of Crawford's selective disclosure and concealment of his financial holdings while he was
Commissioner, noting Crawford's ignoble tenure:
Two especially timely conferences focus on MEDICINE AND THE LAW:
