Tag Archives: Antidepressant

Glaxo Failed to Warn About Paxil Risks, Lawyer Says at Philadelphia Trial

GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, failed to properly warn consumers that its antidepressant drug Paxil could cause birth defects, a lawyer for the family of an injured teenager told jurors. Glaxo officials had research from the 1980s showing Paxil caused deaths among the offspring of animal test subjects and didn’t provide clear warnings about those deaths, Kimberly Baden, a lawyer for Anna Blyth and her family, told a Philadelphia jury. Baden said the drug caused a narrowing of the aorta leading from the heart of Anna, now 14 years old.

Former GSK lawyer indicted for lying and obstructing an investigation into the company’s promotion of an anti-depressant drug

A former lawyer for pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline Plc has been indicted for lying and obstructing an investigation into the company’s promotion of an anti-depressant drug, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. The lawyer, Lauren Stevens, was indicted on four counts of making false statements, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of falsifying and concealing documents related to Glaxo’s promotion of the drug for weight loss, which had not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. “Where the facts and law allow, the Justice Department will pursue individuals responsible for illegal conduct just as vigorously as we pursue corporations,” said Tony West, head of the Justice Department’s civil division.

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.

Prescription for prestige—Drug firms’ speaking fees flow to Harvard doctors; concerns about influence prompt new restrictions

Dr. Brent Forester, a geriatric psychiatrist at McLean, was one of the Massachusetts physicians paid the most last year, when he made $73,100 for giving nearly 40 talks for Eli Lilly to colleagues about the antipsychotic Zyprexa and the antidepressant Cymbalta over dinners in restaurants and in doctors offices. He has resigned from speakers bureaus to comply with the new rules, but said he “never felt like a spokesperson for the company at all.’’

Author of ‘Sex, Lies and Pharmaceuticals’ Criticizes ‘Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder’

Is female sexual dysfunction a medical condition? Drug companies have sure been trying to make you think so, says researcher and journalist Ray Moynihan in his new book, “Sex, Lies and Pharmaceuticals.” Moynihan lambastes drug-industry-financed patient advocacy groups, medical associations and “key opinion leaders” for a global marketing strategy aimed at convincing doctors and regulators that female sexual dysfunction was a medical condition in need of a pharmaceutical treatment.