These drugs, in this family, do not calm or sedate the nerves. They attack. They attack from so deep inside you, you cannot locate the source of the pain … The muscles of your jawbone go berserk, so that you bite the inside of your mouth and your jaw locks and the pain throbs. For [...]
With uncanny echoes of modern interest in ‘cognitive enhancers’, a 1958 edition of Popular Science hails a new drug that “tunes up the brain” allowing us “to perform at peak efficiency all the time”. The drug is iproniazid, marketed then as Marsilid. It was the first ever antidepressant, but the concept of an ‘antidepressant’ had [...]
Dr. Robert Goodman, an internist in New York City, says the real force behind skyrocketing antidepressant prescription rates is pharmaceutical marketing to doctors and to consumers. “You put those two together and you get a lot of prescriptions for antidepressants,” he said. – CDC: Antidepressants most prescribed drugs in U.S.by Elizabeth Cohen for CNN Health [...]
After spending an astounding $100 million to win friends and influence doctors, the drug producers withheld study results—for 21 months—that showed the drug did not work as claimed. Meanwhile, the two companies pulled in a whopping $5.2 billion in sales in 2007 alone. Later, three studies indicated that people who take Vytorin may be more [...]
A group of the nation’s top scientists sent a letter on Wednesday, January 7, to the transition team for President-elect Barack Obama in which they urge a restructure of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) because it has become “fundamentally broken.” Of particular concern is the way the agency intimidates and coerces its scientists [...]
After two years, 46 percent of Alzheimer’s patients taking the anti-psychotics were alive, versus 71 percent of those not on the drugs. After three years, only 30 percent of patients on the drugs were alive, versus 59 percent of those not taking drugs. In the United Kingdom and the United States, guidelines advise doctors to [...]
In a classic example of public relations striving to lessen the impact of legislation like the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, Lilly reveals that it was planning be up-front about buying physicians all along: Starting next year, Eli Lilly and Co. will reveal how much money it pays physicians for speeches and consulting, shedding light on [...]
It is reassuring to see that the press is picking up on the historical practice of overpricing and under-vetting pharmaceuticals… A small outburst of reports in recent days provides enough of a sample to build a scary theory about how drug makers are getting the better of the FDA, doctors and patients. One case involves [...]
It’s no secret that the FDA has ties to the pharmaceutical industry (even if they claim that it does not effect their behavior) – consider Donald Rumsfeld, former CEO of Searle Pharmaceuticals (he was the head honcho when aspartame (NutraSweet) passed FDA approval, despite outcry from doctors who had performed research and determined that the [...]
