NIH sponsored hypertension trial incites controversy: COI Thu, 21 Nov 2002 Controversy has erupted around the research disclosure process of a government sponsored, clinical trial that gave drug companies the manuscript of the report 30 days prior to its submission for publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association….
Doctor Tells Pfizer Sales Rep who promoted Celebrex: “Have You No Shame?” Sun, 26 Dec 2004 An opinion piece by Dr. Marc Siegel, an internist and professor at New York University School of Medicine, expresses the anger and dismay many physicians in the US feel about having been misled by…
How Pharma Took Over Medicine: Research and Practice – BMJ / NYT Fri, 3 Jan 2003 In today’s New York Times Dr. Erin Marcus writes: “Medicines aren’t like shampoo or perfume.” But they’re being hawked on TV as if they were just another ‘enhancer’–when in fact, they come with glossed…
FDA Smoke & Mirrors Musical Chairs Wed, 16 Feb 2005 Amidst widespread public criticism of the FDA’s role as facilitators in the marketing of lethal drugs that killed thousands of people, the Administration made several announcements incorporating terminology (such as: “we’re in an era of openness” “transparency”). But politically correct…
Despite Vow, Drug Makers Still Wtihhold Data – NYT letters Thu, 9 Jun 2005 An important article by Alex Berenson in The New York Times, “Despite Vow, Drug Makers Still Withhold Data,” corroborated the untrustworthiness of drug manufacturers. Their public pronouncements and promises to fully disclose their clinical trial data-including…
Former FDA Commissioner says FDA lost public trust Mon, 17 Oct 2005 The FDA’s failure to ensure drugs are properly tested in trials designed to detect serious adverse effects, and the agency’s failure to require follow-up post-marketing studies to be reasonably secure in the knowledge that no lethal drugs are unleashed on the public has…
Recycled drugs: failed antidepressants– Stratera marketed for ADHD; Cymbalta for incontinence Mon, 26 Apr 2004 A front page article in The Wall Street Journal (excerpt below) provides a roadmap of failed Eli Lilly drugs which the company repackaged for a different condition than the one for which the drugs had…
FDA’s Double Standard Re: Advisory Committee Membership Mon, 15 Nov 2004 FDA’s inexplicable actions–the latest being the removal of Dr. Curt Furberg from an FDA advisory committee for alleged "intellectual conflict of interest" – demonstrate hypocracy and intellectual dishonesty. Dr. Furberg independently analyzed the scientific data, concluding: "The result is…
Pharma Efforts to Bar Placebo Responders from Trials – WSJ Fri, 25 Jun 2004 A clinical trial report in The Lancet debunks the value of Aricept, a popular drug prescribed for Alzheimer’s patients. The findings of a three-year placebo controlled trial show that: “Although the patients taking the drug did…
October 18, 2002. Pediatric Drug Tests_CNN / NYT Editorial Children are increasingly being exploited for profit by the biomedical industry. Between 1983 and 1997, children had been protected from medical experiments that are not in their best interest. But in 1997 Congress passed the FDA Modernization Act (FDAMA), providing a…
Pfizer Must Hand Over Documents in Pitman Case Sat, 4 Dec 2004 A federal judge in Charlotte North Carolina rejected Pfizer’s arguments and ordered the company to hand over the concealed documents sought by defense counsels in the criminal case against Christopher Pitman, a teenager who, at the age of…
FDA Advisory Suicide Risk for Adults on Antidepressants / Advisory Committee Resistant to issue Warnings on ADHD drugs Fri, 1 Jul 2005 Under public and congressional pressure to disclose fully the hazardous effects of widely prescribed drugs, the FDA is beginning to acknowledge the long-denied evidence: psychotropic drugs may INDUCE…
