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...
Abbott’s Admissions of Criminality: Do They Accomplish Anything?
The big fines paid by the drug companies are not effective, yet the government is ignoring the simple solution of enforcing Medicaid and Medicare's restrictions to drugs that are prescribed for medically accepted indications. It is hard to take seriously the government's stated commitment to rooting out fraud when this massive fraud is consciously allowed to continue. I know it is consciously allowing the fraud to continue because the government has been antagonistic to our whistleblower cases raising this point. Massive harm is not enough to cause government action. Massive fraud when the government is drowning in red ink is not enough either. What is it going to take?
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...
Pressuring Parents to Drug Children
Jim Gottstein on Pressuring Parents to Drug Children
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...
RxISK Stories: Gambling on the Side Effects of Antidepressants
In June last year, three months into a prescription for anti-depressant drug Efexor, former financial analyst Tim Hillier left his hotel to wander the empty streets of Alice Springs in an attempt to clear his head. An hour earlier, he had wagered $80,000 -- almost the entirety of his life-savings -- on a first-round Wimbledon tennis match featuring Aussie hope Sam Stosur.
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...
The History of Whistleblowing, and Whistleblower of the Year
1 Boring Old Man reviews the history of whistleblowing, and the story of Allen Jones, who started the ball rolling on the Johnson &...
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...
“When Does That Go On Trial?”
1 Boring Old Man scrutinizes the evidence that Johnson & Johnson hid evidence of Risperdal's breast-growing properties, among other improper actions, concluding "The story...
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...
“If This Isn’t Racketeering…”
1 Boring Old Man opines that the lawyers in the Texas TMAP trial "were operating on a higher plane than these guys in Philadelphia,"...
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...
