Garbage In–Garbage Out: Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses can tell us a Flawed Story
Well known Stanford University researcher John Ioannidis published a new paper this week criticizing the use and production of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, often...
“How the Sugar Industry Shifted Blame to Fat”
The New York Times’ Anahad O’Connor investigates how the sugar industry paid scientists as far back as the 1960s to downplay the link between...
Petition Calls on Pharma Companies to Offer Tapering Kits for Depression and Anxiety Drugs
A change.org petition out of the United Kingdom is addressing the extreme difficulty faced by people who attempt to taper off of antidepressants and...
Ioannidis Questions Strength of Psychology and Neuroscience Literature
Last week, well-known Stanford scientist John Ioannidis and his colleague Denes Szucs released a new analysis online. They examined research published in eighteen prominent...
“Many Clinical Trials’ Findings Never Get Published. Here’s Why That’s Bad”
STAT’s watchdogs, Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus, explain why unpublished studies for drug makers and researchers “put young patients at risk, particularly if those...
Sociologist Explores the DSM-5’s Failed Attempt at Validity
In a new article for the journal Social Science & Medicine, sociologist Owen Whooley investigates how the DSM-5 creators failed in their attempt to...
“Distrustful of Authority, a Holocaust Survivor Became a Fierce Critic of Medical Establishment”
STAT’s Rob Waters profiles Vera Sharav, a holocaust survivor whose son was diagnosed with schizophrenia and died from a side effect of his antipsychotic...
“5 Ways Drug Makers and the Health Care Industry Are Shaping Campaigns”
For STAT, Sheila Kaplan reports how the pharmaceutical industry is lobbying presidential candidates and making major contributions, even to candidates who have criticized the...
“Driven to Suicide by an ‘Inhuman and Unnatural’ Pressure to Sell”
Today’s New York Times features a story of a drug salesman, Ashish Awasthi, who committed suicide when he felt he couldn’t keep up with...
“The Drug Docs”
In part six of a seven-part “Drugging Our Kids” series by The Mercury News, Karen de Sa and Tracy Seipel unveil California’s top foster...
Researchers Pressure Psychiatric Journal to Retract Misleading Celexa Study
In 2004, the American Psychiatric Association published a paper supporting the use of the antidepressant citalopram (Celexa) in children and teens. After reanalyzing the...
“Health News Review and What’s Wrong (and Right) With the Media”
HealthNewsReview.org founder Gary Schwitzer talks to New York Magazine on the media coverage of medical research. “We in journalism have to look in the mirror...
“Institutional Corruption Blamed for Dramatic Increase in Drug Adverse Events and Deaths”
Pharmaguy investigates the rise of adverse event reports filed each year and reports on a new article in the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics ("Institutional...
“European Regulator Recommends Suspending Numerous Drugs Over Clinical Trial Problems”
Pharmalot’s Ed Silverman reports that a number of generic drugs, sold by Novartis and Teva Pharmaceuticals, may be pulled off of the shelves after...
“Medical Groups Push to Water Down Requirements for Disclosing Industry Ties”
Pharmalot’s Ed Silverman reports on a Senate bill aimed at loosening requirements around the reporting of financial conflicts of interest between companies and physicians....
“Vast Majority of Americans Want to Criminalize Data Fraud”
Retraction Watch highlights a new study, “Public Attitudes Toward Data Fraud And Selective Reporting in Science,” finding that the public overwhelmingly believes that data fraud...
Despite Official Recommendations, Depression Screening in Children is Not Supported by Research
Earlier this year, the US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) came out with the controversial recommendation that all adolescent and adult patients undergo depression...
“Evolutionary Forces Are Causing a Boom in Bad Science”
From the New Scientist: “Paul Smaldino and Richard McElreath at the University of California Davis used an evolutionary theory-based computational model to analyse the problem of bad...
“Drug and Device Makers Paid $6.5 Billion to Docs and Teaching Hospitals Last Year”
From Ed Silverman with Pharmalot: “Drug and device makers paid nearly $6.5 billion in payments to doctors and teaching hospitals last year, according to...
“FDA Issues New Draft Guidelines For ‘Appearance’ of Conflicts of Interest”
For STAT news, Pharmalot correspondent Ed Silverman reports on a new guideline being drafted by the FDA that adds new rules that could restrict...
How Can We Address the Corruption Problem in Clinical Trials?
Recently, major researchers, including David Healy, Jon Juriedini, Mickey Nardo, and their colleagues, have brought a great deal of attention to issues of corruption...
“You Could Be Paying More for Less Effective Medicine”
A new study by Lisa Cosgrove, "Under the Influence: The Interplay among Industry, Publishing, and Drug Regulation," suggests that weak drug regulation can lead...
JAMA Review Questions Use of Ritalin for ‘ADHD’
In December, MIA reported on a systematic Cochrane review on the research for the safety and effectiveness of Ritalin (methylphenidate) that found substantial bias...
Air Pollution Linked to Mental Health Problems in Children
A new study, published in BMJ Open-Access this week, found a significant link between the level of air pollution in a community and the mental health of the children living there. After controlling for socio-economic status and other potential variables, researchers in Sweden discovered a strong association between the concentration of air pollution in a neighborhood and the amount of ‘antipsychotic’ and psychiatric drugs prescribed to children. The link remained strong even at pollution levels well below half of what is considered acceptable by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“If Antidepressants Don’t Work Well, Why Are They So Popular?”
“The true balance of risk versus benefit for people taking these kinds of antidepressants will probably only emerge when independent researchers have access to...
