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 bookĀ Bad PharmaĀ (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. Ā 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...
2nd-Generation Antipsychotics Cause Extrapyramidal Side Effects as Much as 1st-Generation
According to researchers from Yale and the U.K., the improvements in extrapyramidal side effects expected from 2nd-generation antipsychotics has not been realized, while the...
Sales of Antipsychotics Predicted to Drop, Then Hit a High by 2021
After a drop to $6.5 billion in 2014, due to the loss of patent protection by the Seroquel, Zyprexa, and Abilify, sales of antipsychotics...
Texas Teen’s Lawyers Seek Testimony From J&J CEO
Lawyers for a Texas teenager whose lawsuit, one of 400 Johnson & Johnson faces over personal injuries caused by Risperdal, is set to begin...
Class Action Lawsuit Granted Over Pfizer Antidepressant’s Effects on Heart, Liver and Profits
Pfizer will face a class action lawsuit by investors who claim that the drugmaker's Wyeth unit failed to disclose information about its antidepressant Pristiq's...
J&J CEO Avoids Testimony in Philadelphia Risperdal Case
Chief executive Alex Gorsky was once proud enough of Risperdal to put its sales numbers on his resume, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer today,...
Risperdal Whistle-Blower Honored in Texas, Fired in Pennsylvania
Allen Jones, the whistle blower whose testimony resulted in a $158 million settlement by Johnson & Johnson for fraudulent marketing of Risperdal in Texas,...
Active Engagement More Important Than Type of Treatment
Researchers (including Irving Kirsch) in the U.S., Israel and the U.K. find that a combination of psychotherapy and antidepressants may provide a slight benefit...
Death of a Child Linked to Onset of Psychosis
Using data from the National Comorbidity Survey, researchers found that individuals with a psychotic disorder who had lost a child had a significantly later...
