How Did the Vioxx Debacle Happen? USA Today / Lancet Tue, 12 Oct 2004 Dr. Eric Topol of the Cleveland Clinic: “The senior executives at Merck and the leadership at the FDA share responsibility for not having taken appropriate action and not recognizing that they are accountable for the public…
Drug Warnings: Are They Effective? USA Today Tue, 26 Apr 2005 How effective are drug warnings? USA Today reports that experts are unsure. For example, a study in the January issue of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety focused on Ohio Medicaid claims for Rezulin prescriptions – the diabetes drug had been…
Research at US Veterans Hospitals Nationwide Under Investigation_NYT Sun, 13 Apr 2003 Veterans returning from service in the military deserve better than the medical care that awaits them at the nation’s Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers. The Associated Press reported on Friday, April 11, that a study shows that patients…
July 9, 2002 Oregonian Editorial: Stop Drug Research on Oregon Kids FYI "…there is no question that suspicionless drug testing, particularly when combined with an outside research study, is an ethical morass and an abuse of school power." Those who approved this experiment have transgressed their authority, teaching children the…
FDA Approves Lilly’s Growth Hormone for Healthy Children Mon, 28 Jul 2003 The FDA has approved Eli Lilly’s injectable human growth hormone (hGH) therapy, Humatrope, for healthy children who are short but have no hormonal deficiency. Lilly claims that its trials in 300 healthy short children resulted in an increase…
Asthma Drug trial Halted -Health Risk Are Suspected Mon, 17 Mar 2003 A spate of recent articles have shown that pharmaceutical companies suppress the publication of negative findings about their products. However, that is not the only way these companies keep physicians and patients uninformed about adverse drug effects. Another…
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…
FDA Scientist Won’t Present New Pain Drug Data – FDA to Create Independent Drug Safety Board Tue, 15 Feb 2005 A culture of intimidation prevents FDA safety officers from disclosing important safety information about widely marketed drugs. Reuters reports: “Criticism of how the FDA monitors the after-market safety of drugs…
Public Comments: Dr. William J. Bicknell, Professor of International Health, Boston University Dear Dr. Ball: I am submitting these comments in reference to the announcement published in the Federal Register, Vol. 67, No. 211, Thursday, October 31, 2002 regarding the Solicitation of Public Review and Comment on Research Protocol: A…
Selling Sickness: Pharma Industry Turning Us All Into Patients Mon, 12 Sep 2005 Related Link: Selling Sickness Prologue Selling Sickness: How the World’s Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All Into Patients, by Ray Moynihan, an international health journalist, and Alan Cassels, a pharmaceutical policy researcher, is likely to become a…
Date: Thu, 30 May 2002 14:14:47 -0400 From: Vera Subject: Bitter Medicine: Pills, Profit & the Public Health_ABC News ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP) A Human Rights Organization www.researchprotection.org Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav FYI On May 17 The Wall Street Journal reported (in a front page article) that drug…
$95 billion a year spent on medical research in US – JAMA Fri, 23 Sep 2005 A special issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA, focuses on medical research spending and findings. A study that examined US spending for medical research—$95 billion approaching $100 billion–57% is spent…
