“Feds Charge Former Valeant and Philidor Execs with Fraud”
“The executive who once ran the specialty pharmacy at the heart of the Valeant Pharmaceutical accounting scandal was arrested Thursday morning, along with a...
“Former FDA Official Settles Insider Trading Charges”
For STAT, Ed Silverman reports that Gordon Johnston, a former FDA official, has agreed to a settlement after being accused of insider trading. “Johnston,...
Study Finds No Benefit for Testosterone Treatments
Researchers find no benefits for testosterone as a treatment for improving mood, psychological well-being, and cognitive function.
Pharma Data Sharing Efforts Off to a Slow Start
Researchers discuss the preliminary results of clinical trial data sharing efforts by pharmaceutical companies and other groups.
Neurosexism: Study Questions Validity of Gender-based Neuroscientific Results
Neuroscientific results that class humans into two categories, “male” and “female,” tend to reify gender stereotypes by giving them the appearance of objective scientific truth.
Exploring Psychiatry’s “Black Hole”: The International Institute on Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal
When Carina Håkansson sent out an invitation for a symposium on "Pharmaceuticals: Risks and Alternatives," some of the world's top scientists, along with experts-by-experience, came from 13 countries to explore better ways to respond to people in crisis.
Are Different Depression Scales Measuring the Same Thing?
A new study examines the wide range of symptoms that appear on depression rating scales and what the means for the reliability of research.
What Animal Research Says About Sexual Side-effects of SSRIs
A group of researchers in Denmark examines what existing animal studies can tell us about the sexual side-effects of SSRI antidepressants.
Hypnotic Medications Linked to Suicide Risk
A recent review found that hypnotic medications are associated with risks of suicide and suicidal ideation.
Systematic Review Finds Antidepressants Double the Risk for Agitation and Violence in Healthy Volunteers
The Nordic Cochrane Center conducted a systematic review of existing research trials on antidepressants and found that the drugs doubled the risk of feelings...
“Ghostwriting: The Importance of Definition and its Place in Contemporary Drug Marketing”
Former ghostwriter, Alastair Matheson, talks to BMJ about how the pharmaceutical industry found a loophole to continue composing articles in medical journals without admitting...
Clinical Trials Underreport Harms of Antidepressant Medications
A group of researchers recently found serious bias in the reporting of harm due to adverse events in antidepressant medication clinical trials. They report...
“80% of Data in Chinese Clinical Trials have been Fabricated”
An investigation by the Chinese government found that more than eighty percent of all of the data on new pharmaceuticals had been “fabricated.” “The...
New Study Casts Doubt on Efficacy of Ketamine for Depression
A new study, published this month in the Journal of Affective Disorders, investigated the effectiveness of weekly intravenous ketamine injections as a treatment for...
“How the FDA Manipulates the Media”
The Scientific American reports that the FDA offered scoops to major media organizations but, in exchange, the news agencies had to agree only to...
How Do Antidepressants Really ‘Work’?
A recent review, published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, challenges the dominant assumptions about the neurochemical and therapeutic effects of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors...
German Psychologists Declare “the Drugs Don’t Work”
Jürgen Margraf and Silvia Schneider, both well-known psychologists at the University of Bochum in Germany, claim that psychotropic drugs are no solution to mental...
Ghostwriting has a New Name but Same Problems
A new paper, published in the British Medical Journal, explains how the pharmaceutical industry has publicly denounced ghostwriting while still finding ways to engage...
Psychiatric Drug Ads Lead to More Prescriptions and Worse Treatment
A new analysis published in the The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry investigates the public health effects of direct-to-consumer advertisements for psychiatric drugs. The researchers...
“FDA Panel Votes to Remove Serious Warning from Pfizer’s Smoking Cessation Pill”
This week an FDA advisory panel decided to remove warnings of serious psychiatric side effects from the Chantix product label. “In making its recommendation,...
“FDA questions Pfizer Study of Chantix Psychiatric Effects”
Pfizer is petitioning the FDA to remove the black box warning for Chantix which focuses on neuropsychiatric side-effects like suicidality and depression. The regulators...
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...
Confessions of a Trespasser
In a recently published commentary in Psychiatric Times, Ronald Pies and Joseph Pierre made this assertion: Only clinicians, with an expertise in assessing the research literature, should be weighing in on the topic of the efficacy of psychiatric drugs. They wrote their commentary shortly after I had published on madinamerica “The Case Against Antipsychotics,” and it was clear they had me in their crosshairs.
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...
