The Putative Neurobiology of SSRIs and Aggression
“It’s happening," said researchers at Northeastern University, "Kids are becoming irritated, aggressive, impulsive, agitated, hostile. So you ask the question: Why?” They found (through study...
ADHD Drugs Compensate for a Deficit of Attention to Schools
The New York Times describes a growing trend among doctors: prescribing medication to fix a "made up" diagnosis in children, in order to compensate...
Crowdfunding Science
Scientific American explores a crowdfunded approach to researching methamphetamine addiction, suggesting the approach is adaptable to pursuing other questions that are challenged to find...
Psychiatry is “Committing Professional Suicide”
David Healy "likened psychiatry’s attitude toward its faltering legitimacy to the Vatican’s widely derided response to its child sex abuse scandal by priests —...
J&J Settles Five Cases After Former FDA Chief Says It Illegally Marketed Risperdal for...
Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler testified in an "Expert Report" submitted for a trial set to begin Oct. 9 that "(Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) Janssen's promotion...
Abbott to Pay $700 Million for Off-Label Marketing of Depakote
Pleading guilty to marketing Depakote for behavioral problems in dementia patients, a purpose for which the drug was not approved, a federal judge has...
Discussing The Meaning of Antipsychotics
Research published in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice finds that a "shared discussion of beliefs about medication between patient and care provider allows wider...
J&J Anticipates $2.2 Billion Settlement with Justice Dept.
In a compulsory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Johnson & Johnson indicates an "agreement in principle" with federal prosecutors to "resolve" "criminal...
One Million in U.K. Addicted to Prescribed Benzos
The Times of London reports today that more than a million people in the U.K. are addicted to benzodiazepines prescribed to them by their...
Benzos Raise Dementia Risk 50%
A 15-year prospective study, in the British Medical Journal this week, of 1063 subjects by researchers from the University of Bordeaux and Harvard University...
Pharma Prosecutions Begin to Pay for Themselves
In what may prove to be a tipping point for prosecutions against pharmaceutical companies, states are beginning to see their "enforcement efforts pay for...
Canadian Newspaper Investigates Health Problems of ADHD Meds
The Toronto Star's investigation of ADHD meds has revealed 600 cases so far of Canadian children "suffering serious, sometimes fatal side effects suspected to...
Antidepressants Linked to Risk of Adult-Onset Diabetes
A meta-analysis of studies of 168,435 adults who were free of diabetes at baseline found that those who used antidepressant medication were 68% more...
Global Pharmaceutical Industry Fined $11 Billion in Three Years
Although the global pharmaceutical industry racked up $11 billion in fines in the last three years, "Companies might well view such fines as a...
J&J Alleged To Hide Evidence That Risperdal Grows Boys’ Breasts
"A drug that was never meant for kids was illegally marketed to kids," said a lawyer for the plaintiff in opening remarks for the...
Day Two of the Philly J&J Trial: “Risperdal Popcorn” & Other Perks
Testimony at day two of the Philadelphia trial concerning a 17-year-old Texas boy who grew breasts after taking Risperdal from the age of five...
Ohio to Review Antipsychotics in Foster and Other Children
The state of Ohio plans to invest $1 million in the next three years to review the use of psychiatric drugs prescribed to children,...
“The Drugs Don’t Work: a Modern Medical Scandal”
Ben Goldacre reflects on his having been mislead as a psychiatrist in his forthcoming book Bad Pharma (excerpted here in the U.K. newspaper The Guardian), and...
One in Seven Scots Take Antidepressants
Following a fourfold-increase in antidepressant use in Scotland over the last two decades, one in seven Scots are taking the drugs. Prescriptions for antipsychotics...
NY Times: “A Call for Caution in the Use of Antipsychotic Drugs”
Professor of psychiatry Richard Friedman traces the history of antipsychotics in the New York Times Health section yesterday, finding that the promise of atypical...
J&J CEO Does Not Have to Testify in Risperdal Gynecomastia Trial
In a victory for Johnson & Johnson, a Philadelphia judge ruled that CEO Alex Gorsky cannot be called as a witness by the plaintiff,...
Family Economic Context Linked to Adolescents’ Antipsychotic Use
In a study of the Swedish Medical Birth Registry published in the British Medical Journal, researchers identified all 324,510 single children born between 1988...
Schizophrenia-Immune System “Link” Opens the Door to Research
"In order to expose people to dangerous treatments - and immunosuppresive drugs do carry risks - you need serious evidence to suggest those drugs...
Ritalin Increases Risk-Taking in Women
Women who were asked to play a gambling were significantly more likely to keep betting when the stakes increased if they had taken Ritalin...
Woman “Jacked Up” on Zoloft Kills Baby
Saying that she had been "jacked up" on a new medication (Zoloft) and had not slept for five or six days, a Milwaukee man...
