Merck / Johnson & Johnson/ Lilly-Zyprexa: $690 Million settlement / a Flowering of Diabetes Drugs Fri, 10 Jun 2005 A cluster of news reports about three pillars of the pharmaceutical industry– Merck, Eli Lilly, and Johnson & Johnson–leave no doubt that this industry has shown its disregard for the welfare…
The Facts about Medicare “Wider Choices in Drug Benefits" Thu, June 16, 2005 The New York Times reports: “The expansion of Medicare to cover prescription drugs is President Bush’s most significant achievement in domestic policy. He plans to emphasize it at two events this week, on Thursday in Washington and…
Labeling Kids Mentally Ill for Profit – E. Pringle Mon, 14 Mar 2005 Independent, investigative reporters in Texas, Illinois, Ohio, FloridaŠare questioning the rationale for the recommendations of President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health report calling for universal screening for mental illness. These investigative reporter have discovered that…
Cash Interests Taint Drug Advice – NATURE / Death a Risk of Antipsychotics – AP Sun, 23 Oct 2005 An investigation by the journal, NATURE (the largest of its kind) reveals that not only do conflicts of interest taint the conduct and outcome of clinical trials, the authors who formulate…
Philadelphia Daily News Pharma Influence: Penn Psychiatrist Files Whistleblower Lawsuit – Investigtion Confirms Medicare Chief Lied to Congress Wed, 7 Jul 2004 “Drug companies not only write checks to hospitals, they write checks to politicians…They write checks to both sides of the aisle.” Two separate news reports provide a glimpse…
Bioethics Debate: Ethics of U Penn Surgical “Drug Implant” Experiment This debate between AHRP President, Vera Sharav and Bioethicist, Paul Root Volpe, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, was prompted by an October 7 infomail. The reasons for AHRP’s opposition to drug implants for psychiatric patients are explained here: https://ahrp.org/ahrpspeaks/drugimplant1103.php —–Original Message—–…
ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION* (AHRP) April 10, 2000 Gary Ellis, Ph.D, Director Michael A. Carome, M.D. Chief Compliance Oversight Branch Division of Human Subject Protections Office of Protection from Research Risks Rockville, MD 20892-7507 Re: High Risk Experiment With Children Who Have No Medical Diagnosis Dear Dr. Ellis &…
Psychiatric Drugs Pushing Children to Crisis Units_Tampa Tribune Tue, 15 Apr 2003 A report in the Tampa Tribune following its five month investigation, shows how misprescribing of psychiatric drugs for children can precipitate life-threatening tragedies. The report describes a 9 year old child’s descent into suicidal violence after she had…
Next Phase in Psychiatry? Or, NIMH Effort to Rescue Bad Drugs – WSJ Fri, 29 Jul 2005 The Wall Street Journal uncritically reported: “The results of the largest studies ever conducted of depression and schizophrenia will be released in coming months, potentially transforming the way patients are treated and shaking…
Schizophrenia drugs increase diabetes risk Fri, 29 Aug 2003 A large scale study by the Veterans Administration corroborates a body of evidence demonstrating that the much touted “improved” newer drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia–Zyprexa, Risperdal, Seroquesl– are precipitating the onset of diabetes at alarming rates– especially among younger patients….
Treating children as young as 4 for bipolar – WSJ Thu, 26 May 2005 A report in The Wall Street Journal should raise serious concerns about the legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosing and drug prescribing for children. The Journal reports that close to 20,000 US children are being diagnosed with bi-polar…
Cost and Consequence: drug “cocktails” deplete Medicaid_Globe Tue, 24 Jun 2003 The escalating cost of healthcare is in large measure due tothe spiraling expenditure on drugs–many of which are misprescribed.The Boston Globe reports about one Medicaid patient who is prescribed18 medications at a cost of roughly $16,000 a year–“all at…
