“Drug Companies Should Make Their Studies Public” NYT Wed, 13 Aug 2003 Concealed and inaccessible research findings are undermining the integrity of medicine, the advancement of scientific knowledge, and most importantly, secrecy is putting people’s lives in jeopardy because prescribing doctors are ignorant about adverse – even lethal – drug…
Congressional Investigations Senate Finance Committee Investigates FDA Aug 4: Sen. Grassley letter (416 K pdf) to 8 drug companies requests list of all antidepressant tests on children (1/1/1990–7/23/2004) Aug 3: Drug safety Hearings-Sept-Congress/ FDA – Lilly Plans to Disclose Data Jul 15: Senate Letter to FDA re: disclosure of risks…
TeenScreen: Who Pays for Treatment and Drugs?? Sun, 29 May 2005 In her latest examination of the President’s Commission on Mental Health recommendation for universal mental health screening, Evelyn Pringle focuses on the $$$ it costs and on how screening, followed by prescribing psychotropic drugs, is bankrupting of public health…
NY Banker–“Perfect Gentleman” shot son and fatally shot himself – prescribed antidepressant found Thu, 6 Oct 2005 Yet another example of a person prescribed an SSRI antidepressant–in this case Lexapro–who explodes in an uncharacteristic murderous rampage. The NY Daily News reports: A “perfect gentleman” banker who had threatened his family…
Antidepressant Use in Children Soars Despite Efficacy Doubts – Washington Post Mon, 19 Apr 2004 A front page article by Shankar Vedantam in The Washington Post examines the soaring increase in the antidepressant drug prescriptions for children, noting: “The explosion in antidepressant use occurred even though the vast majority of…
Infomail 2005 News Stories on Human Research Protection and Commentary by Vera Hassner Sharav Subscribe to the AHRP infomail list Dec 16: Drugs, Devices & Doctors – NYT Paul Krugman Dec 11: Scientific Fraud & Corruption on Both sides of Atlantic: Merck / Proctor & Gamble Dec 11: Gov Accountability…
FDA sends contradictory message re: addictive drugs prescribed for children – NIMH admits cognitive therapy as good as SSRIs Fri, 27 May 2005 Two government health care agencies sent conflicting mixed messages about th euse of psychotropic drugs for children: The National Instiute of Mental Health issued an announcement acknowledging…
NIMH-Harvard study: 74% children prescribed SSRI suffer adverse effects Fri, 22 Aug 2003 A report in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology (abstract below) Dr. Timothy Wilens, Dr. Joseph Biederman, et al, child psychiatrists at Harvard’s teaching hospital, Massachusetts General, found that 22% of children and adolescents who had…
Minn. Shooter Described As Deeply Disturbed-He took Prozac – Wash Post Thu, 24 Mar 2005 The Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post confirm the suspicion that like the other adolescents who went on a school shooting rampage, Jeff Weise was taking an SSRI antidepressant. The Post identifies the drug as…
Credibility Crisis:Survey FDA Scientists – Death in NIH-AIDS Trial – Tauzin Moves to PhRMA Thu, 16 Dec 2004 A credibility crisis in medical research is smoldering: like the Enron accounting scandal, the prescription-drug debacle is a matter of systemic corruption, including gross and widespread failure by the regulatory process. Unlike…
Black Box Warnings for Antidepressants – What’s Next? Thu, 16 Sep 2004 NY TIMES Quotations of the Day: A. “I think that we now all believe that there is an increase in suicidal thinking and action that is consistent across all the drugs.” Dr. ROBERT TEMPLE, of the Food and…
Antidepressant Makers Withhold Data on Children – Washington Post Thu, 29 Jan 2004 A front page article in The Washington Post addresses the key issue undermining public health and safety. Drug companies conceal unfavorable clinical trial findings: the tests failed to demonstrate that antidepressants are either safe or beneficial for…
