“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…
Pfizer Statements RE: Bextra, Celebrex, Neurontin Shown to be Lies Fri, 08 Apr 2005 The New York Times reports that “as recently as Tuesday [Pfizer] assured Wall Street that sales of Celebrex and Bextra would soon rebound. It was the latest in a string of announcements by the company regarding…
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…
“The Drug Trial That Went Wrong” is an investigative report by Chanel 4 (UK) about the circumstances surrounding the near fatal drug trial testing the safety of TGN1412, a monoclonal antibody drug, conducted in March 2006 at London’s Northwick Park Hospital. [1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/5377226.stm It airs momorrow.
The New York Times reports that a Maryland psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Gleason, was handcuffed and arrested in March and charged with criminal promotion of a drug "for purposes other than those approved by the federal government."
“There is a crisis of credibility in medicine and science,” says Dr Joseph Sonnabend who, as a former virologist for the Medical Research Council and a retired Aids physician, has watched the basis for public confidence decline.
A front page report in The New York Times provides additonal information about the catastrophic TGN1412 medical experiment in which 6 previously healthy volunteers were intravenously injected with monoclonal antibody in a highly risky procedure.
The independent Institute of Science in Society (ISIS) challenges the report issued by the UK government medicines oversight agency, MHRA (equivalent to US FDA), absolving itself and those involved from any responsibility for a catastrophic human experiment that nearly killed six healthy volunteers.
