Study 329: The final chapter coming soon Arguably the most controversial drug study ever, Study 329, published in July 2001: Concluded that paroxetine was a safe and effective medication for treating major depression in adolescents; Is still widely cited in the medical literature, providing physicians with assurance about the usefulness of paroxetine; Was criticized … [Read more...] about A Milestone in the Battle for Truth in Drug Safety
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Shock, Mutilate and Poison: The Medical Mission
Editorial Note: This post interrupts the Crusoe series. The comments from Deirdre Oliver and “Truth” posted below assume Crusoe and I are one and in attacking me they risk derailing a position being laid out by Dr Crusoe. Dr Crusoe and I share some views or her posts would not feature here but while the issues about ECT have some relationship with the position she was staking … [Read more...] about Shock, Mutilate and Poison: The Medical Mission
Lost in Medication: The Crusoe Report 3
Editorial Note: This follows Restoring Health part 1 and What's Poisoning Health part 2 of the Crusoe Report in response to the Witty Magna Carta posts. A medicine is a mix of a chemical that pharmaceutical companies produce and knowledge about how to use the chemical – that we produce. Making even basic chemicals was beyond us for millennia. But once the process was … [Read more...] about Lost in Medication: The Crusoe Report 3
What’s Poisoning Health: The Crusoe Report 2
How did we get to the point where healthcare itself is sick – where we have as Annemarie Mol brings out become consumers of healthcare products rather than people whom doctors and nurses care for when we are at our most vulnerable? The breach of trust in modern healthcare comes close to a mother poisoning her babies in their infancy. From luxury to basic Back in the 1950s … [Read more...] about What’s Poisoning Health: The Crusoe Report 2
Restoring Health: The Crusoe Report 1
The diplomatic thing would be to say there is some agreement between the Witty Report and this one. There is certainly some overlap in suggested solutions. We could perhaps even agree that the real problem is the failure of medicine rather than pharma malfeasance. But the fault-line runs deeper. There are two or maybe three forces, depending on the way you look at it, … [Read more...] about Restoring Health: The Crusoe Report 1
Magna What? The Embarassing Side Effects of Drugs
This post is designed to be read with the Drugs and Smell post on RxISK. Into the Matrixx The second drug in the Anosmia Table in the Drugs and Smell post is Zinc Gluconate which was traded under the name Zicam. For anyone concerned about adverse events this is one of the most important drugs in History. Zicam was marketed by Matrixx Pharmaceuticals. The company's … [Read more...] about Magna What? The Embarassing Side Effects of Drugs
Magna Pharma
This post on the eight hundredth anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta is the second in a Magna Carta series, and the twentieth in the Persecution series. Faced in 2012 with questions about the $3 Billion fine imposed on GSK - triggered by a sequence of events starting with Study 329, – is it just the cost of doing business? Andrew Witty snapped back: “Although corporate … [Read more...] about Magna Pharma
A Magna Carta for Healthcare
Editorial note: This is the first in a Magna Carta series, and the nineteenth in the Persecution series. As the days lengthen and things warm up in England, historically it has been the time for the people to get restive. Eight Hundred years ago, the people meant a group of us who counted – we called ourselves the Barons. There were other human beings – our serfs - who … [Read more...] about A Magna Carta for Healthcare
42 or Thereabouts
See previous posts - Switch on Anti-Depression Today and So Long and Thanks for all the Serotonin. In response to the recent BMJ editorial on Serotonin and Depression, there were seventeen letters of which three were published, along with my response. These are copied below along with the best letter - by Barney Carroll - which wasn't published. Make your own mind up as to … [Read more...] about 42 or Thereabouts
Compulsory Vaccination and the Media – The Australian Experience
Editorial Note: This is another post on the vaccination and censorship theme. Elizabeth Hart's comments, over the past few weeks in response to some of the posts here, on efforts to stifle debate have been balanced and eloquent. Given the growing number of new journalism outlets, such as The Conversation, that portray themselves as tackling cutting edge issues fearlessly but in … [Read more...] about Compulsory Vaccination and the Media – The Australian Experience