Antidepressant Found ‘Ineffective and Potentially Harmful’

While some (often the manufacturers) claim that there is a lot of research supporting a drug, it can sometimes be the case that the published research does not tell the full story. Sometimes there exists other research that is not so supportive of the drug being tested—research that may not have seen the light of day. Drug companies want to publish supportive studies and shelve more-negative findings. There is an expression for this practice—publication bias. Publication bias has gone on for decades but only relatively recently have some members of the scientific community taken steps to stamp it out.

Forest Labs settling wrongful death & personal injury lawsuits from parents of kids who took Celexa & Lexapro

Fifty-four lawsuits, mostly involving suicides and attempted suicides by teenagers in various parts of the country, accuse the New York-based pharmaceutical company of concealing a negative pediatric study on Celexa, duping physicians about the drug’s clinical trials, and targeting children in aggressive promotions of Celexa and a sister drug, Lexapro. Four of the cases were settled Friday, and two additional cases were settled in recent weeks. A surge of related settlements, which could total millions of dollars, is expected in the months ahead as the pharmaceutical company attempts to move beyond the controversy surrounding its marketing of antidepressants to children.

US Soldiers’ Suicides Caused by Prescription Drugs?

Over 4,000 published reports of violent and bizarre behavior of people affected by antidepressants on the Web archive ssristories.com reveal the same out-of-character violence and self-harm in civilians that is currently seen in the military. Twenty people set themselves on fire. Ten bit their victims (including a biter who was sleepwalking and a woman, on Prozac, who bit her 87-year-old mother into a critical condition.) Three men in the 70s and 80s attacked their wives with hammers. Many stabbed their victims obsessively—one even stabbed furniture after killing his wife—and 14 parents drowned their children, a crime seldom heard of before the 2001 Andrea Yates case. Yates, who drowned her five children, was on the antidepressant Effexor, which manufacturer Wyeth (now Pfizer) “issued no public warning” about [the possibility of violent behavior], says the Associated Press.

Big Pharma executives facing legal threat; including potential fines and prison time

Frustrated that even billion-dollar fines seem to have little effect on pharmaceutical firms, the Food and Drug Administration has increasingly signaled its intent to use a legal doctrine spawned by those long-gone rodents to bring criminal charges against top executives, even those who might have been unaware of company misdeeds. Earlier this month, Eric Blumberg, FDA litigation chief, told an industry audience that his agency was looking for cases to use what is known as the Park Doctrine as a tool to “change the corporate culture” of firms that have thus far shrugged off other penalties. Under the Park Doctrine, a corporate officer is liable for illegal corporate actions the officer should have known about or was responsible for preventing.

Big Pharma executives facing legal threat; including potential fines and prison time

Frustrated that even billion-dollar fines seem to have little effect on pharmaceutical firms, the Food and Drug Administration has increasingly signaled its intent to use a legal doctrine spawned by those long-gone rodents to bring criminal charges against top executives, even those who might have been unaware of company misdeeds. Earlier this month, Eric Blumberg, FDA litigation chief, told an industry audience that his agency was looking for cases to use what is known as the Park Doctrine as a tool to “change the corporate culture” of firms that have thus far shrugged off other penalties. Under the Park Doctrine, a corporate officer is liable for illegal corporate actions the officer should have known about or was responsible for preventing.

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