The Huffington Post

September 1, 2010

by Dr. Ronald Ricker and Dr. Venus Nicolino

Today, the administration of psychoactive drugs to children (6-17) is all too common and growing at an alarming rate. These drugs often cause the opposite of the intended effect, often condemning children to a life of misery and ill health. The prescription of these drugs is said to treat “chemical imbalances” which were said to cause ADHD, Depression and Bi-polar disorder. It turns out, however, that what we were calling “disease-causing chemical imbalances,” is simply incorrect . The sad irony is, the inappropriate use of these medications is in fact creating different chemical imbalances, which do cause mental disorders, many of which are both life-long and debilitating.

Furthermore, it is now clear that often we are diagnosing ordinary childhood and adolescent behavior as mental disorders (Wait, children are supposed to be bursting with energy? It’s normal for a teenager to be moody and aloof?). This diagnosing is not only based on this idea of “chemical imbalances,” but also a general and pervasive notion that every non-acceptable behavior is due to a mental illness. And last, but certainly not least, the prescribing of these medications by doctors is based on the disinformation provided them by the FDA, drug manufactures and often fraudulent studies, all in the name of making money, on the backs of our children.

In a recent lecture, respected journalist, writer and Nobel Prize Nominee, Robert Whitaker (PBS, Boston, June 15, 2010) highlighted not only the appallingly unscientific methodology used in the development, prescription and use of psychotropic drugs in school-aged children, but also how hopelessly corrupt and failed the systems that should be regulating the safety of medicines are in this country.

Unfortunately, many drug companies exist for one reason: to make money. As such, the people who run these companies have developed a worldview bereft of any more notion of ethics or morality than British Petroleum. Some drug companies’ success is not based on a drug’s usefulness or the safety of its products, but whether it makes money. The path to more money is simple: find new uses for their old drugs, invent new drugs and find new markets for both new and old drugs. Unfortunately, children are today’s newest market.

The FDA requires a “Successful Drug Trial” to approve new medications. “Trial” is often a misnomer, as the word implies some notion of impartiality and unknown outcome. These “trials” often are more like kangaroo courts. In one “trial,” in this case to prove the usefulness of Prozac, corruption and dishonesty were the rule. Children who responded to placebos were removed from the data, as were negative responders to the actual drug. This meant that the only children who were left in the study group were so-called “positive responders.” And, even then, the researchers and doctors, whose “research” funding was provided by the makers of Prozac, were the very ones to decide which subjects, if any, actually did respond “positively” to the drug. This, of course, is a massive conflict of interest. The doctors, researchers and drug companies all want the same thing — FDA approval and to make more money.

In a 2004 article published in perhaps the most prestigious British medical journal, Lancet, said the trial studies used to provide proof of the usefulness of anti-depressant drugs in children, were “nothing but fraudulent.” Following that assessment, all anti-depressants but Prozac were banned in the UK for use on children. (The fact that Prozac was not banned was based on very dubious, some say dishonest, research as documented above).

The true damage caused by the use of anti-depressant drugs like Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, etc. (AKA of SSRI’s: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) by school-aged children is only found by legitimate, longer studies, like those that continued from 17 months to six years. In one study, 25 percent of children who had been on SSRI’s for three years were re-diagnosed with the much more serious disorder of Bi-polar disease. This number increased to 50 percent after six years of SSRI use. Long-term use of new anti-psychotics may lead to even greater problems than the initial disease. Diabetes, morbid obesity and early death have all been linked to the use of these drugs. And, as written by us in a previous blog both short and long term use of stimulant drugs such as Adderall), have numerous serious side effects.

Read the rest of this article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-ronald-ricker-and-dr-venus-nicolino/the-prescribing-of-psycho_b_665838.html

Note: To view all international drug regulatory warnings and studies on psychiatric drugs including those issued specifically for children,visit CCHR’s psychiatric drug search engine here: http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/drug_warnings.php

Also see this video – Drugging Our Children: Side Effects – http://www.cchrint.org/videos/

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Andrew Stern
Reuters
January 5, 2010

Mild to severe depression might be better treated with alternatives to antidepressant drugs, which do not help patients much more than an inactive placebo, researchers said Tuesday.

Combining data from six studies that examined the effectiveness of two commonly prescribed antidepressants — paroxetine and imipramine — found the drugs produced benefits only slightly greater than a placebo in patients with mild to severe depression.

“They would have done just as well or just about as well with a placebo,” said Robert DeRubeis, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, who with colleagues performed the meta-analysis.

Paroxetine is one of a popular class of drugs, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and is sold under the brand name Paxil by GlaxoSmithKline. Imipramine is an older tricyclic antidepressant drug developed in the 1950s.

The so-called placebo effect is powerful in treating depression, where people believe they are helped even though they are taking an inactive sugar pill, DeRubeis said.

Read entire article:  http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60454020100106

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Kristine B.
LawyersandSettlements.com
December 15, 2009

We’re in the countdown to year-end and looking over some of the more impactful settlements LawyersAndSettlements.com has covered over the past year. When we’re talking impactful, everyone around here has an opinion—so we had to throw in some criteria. To get the nod for impact, a settlement had to be one of two things: 1. High dollar value; or 2. Precedent-setting—or at least have the potential to influence similar cases to follow. (Sounds simple, but you try getting Stephen, John, Jaime, Michelle and Ben to settle in on just 7 settlements with just those criteria…) So here we go…7 game-changing settlements for ‘09…

1) Family takes on GlaxoSmithKline

Michelle David filed a lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, alleging the company’s antidepressant, Paxil was responsible for her son’s birth defects. David said she had taken Paxil while pregnant and was not aware of the potential side effects. GlaxoSmithKline said that birth defects occur in between three and five percent of all live births, regardless of Paxil use.

Read entire article: http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/blog/7-game-changing-settlements-of-2009-02165.html

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Jef Feeley and Margaret Cronin Fisk
Bloomberg.com
December 14, 2009

GlaxoSmithKline Plc has paid almost $1 billion to resolve lawsuits over Paxil since it introduced the antidepressant in 1993, including about $390 million for suicides or attempted suicides said to be linked to the drug, according to court records and people familiar with the cases.

As part of the total, Glaxo, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, so far has paid $200 million to settle Paxil addiction and birth-defect cases and $400 million to end antitrust, fraud and design claims, according to the people and court records.

The $1 billion “would be worse than many people are expecting,” said Navid Malik, an analyst at Matrix Corporate Capital in London. “I don’t think this is within the boundaries of current assumptions for analysts.”

The London-based company hasn’t disclosed the settlement total in company filings. It has made public some accords. Glaxo’s provision for legal and other non-tax disputes as of the end of 2008 was 1.9 billion pounds ($3.09 billion), according to its latest annual report. This included all legal matters, not just Paxil. The company said 112 million pounds of this sum would be “reimbursed by third-party issuers.”

Read entire article: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aWNKB4YPWjIY

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Keith McLaughlin
The Argosy.ca
November 26, 2009

Since the emergence of antidepressant drugs in the early 1980s, more and more cases of depression are being reported. According to Dr. Brad Hagen, a clinical psychologist and faculty member at the University of Lethbridge, the reason for the skyrocketing rates of depression are a matter of heated debate.
“Depending on how you look at it, depression either started becoming more common or recognized, or it became marketed,” says Hagen.
In the 1950s, reported cases of depression were practically unheard of, but now the World Health Organization warns it could become the second leading cause of disability in the world by 2020.
Most persons with depression are treated by antidepressants, even though counseling – which can be significantly more expensive and time-consuming – has demonstrated equal effectiveness in offsetting feelings of depression. In the U.S, 87 per cent of physician visits for depression result in antidepressants being prescribed.
In 2007, sales of antidepressants topped $11.9 billion in the U.S.
Some in the medical community wonder if the spike in diagnosed depression cases over the last twenty years is exaggerated.
“Some question whether it’s an overinflated number because essentially there’s people that benefit from so many people being diagnosed,” says Hagen.

Read entire article: http://www.argosy.ca/view.php?aid=41974

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Zosia Bielski
Globe and Mail
November 18, 2009

A German pharmaceutical company is touting one of its failed antidepressants as a libido-boosting drug for women.

Flibanserin can increase sexual desire in women suffering from “hypoactive sexual desire disorder,” according to three clinical trials funded by the company, Boehringer Ingelheim. The results were presented yesterday at the Congress of the European Society for Sexual Medicine in Lyon, France.

The disorder is a branch of “female sexual dysfunction,” a widely debated term that involves everything from an inability to reach orgasm to a lack of desire.

Described as a “Viagra-like drug for women” by one of the trials’ principal investigators, flibanserin is prompting an outcry from critics who say female sexual dysfunction is a disorder the pharmaceutical industry has conjured as an attempt to capitalize on women’s complex sexuality.

In two North American trials, the company surveyed 1,378 women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Another trial was conducted in Europe.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a reference guide for the medical profession, the condition is accompanied by a persistent absence of sexual fantasies or desire for any form of sexual activity. The disorder is marked by distress and difficulties in a relationship.

Read entire article: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/drug-firm-touts-failed-antidepressant-as-viagra-for-women/article1365641/

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Dana Blankenhorn
SmartPlanet.com
November 16, 2009

It’s a great example of how drug companies try to turn their lemons into lemonade.

Flibanserin was developed by a German company, Boehringer Ingelheim, originally as an anti-depressant. You may have never heard of Boehringer, but it’s an old name in the drug game, producing such common drugs as Dulcolax, Flomax, Spiriva, and Zantac, among others.

Flibanserin failed its trials as an anti-depressant, but when the company asked test subjects to return the unused portion, patients were reluctant. (The 2001 movie Serendipity starred John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.)

So, like any good drug maker Boehringer tried, tried again. What the University of North Carolina now reports is that it increases a woman’s sex drive.

A lot of the media is touting this as “female Viagra,” but it’s really no such thing. Viagra makes sex possible. Flibanserin just seems to make it desirable. Boehringer funded the UNC study.

Read entire article: http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/rethinking-healthcare/can-a-bad-anti-depressant-be-a-good-sex-aid/613/

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To The Editor:
Cumberland Times-News
August 9, 2009

There has been an alarming increase in suicides and attempted suicides among our combat troops in recent years.

There is no denying that soldiers in the field are under great stress, and one of the ways the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has dealt with that stress is to dispense strong anti-depressant medications to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I want a close examination of how these anti-depressants are prescribed and managed in-theater and what impact they may be having on our soldiers.

A particular concern involves the latency period for the effectiveness of such drugs. In an ideal situation, patients are closely monitored for two to six weeks.

However, the demands of combat are not conducive to such close monitoring.

To that end, I am pleased that the Senate has adopted my amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which would mandate a study of the increased use of anti-depressants among combat troops and the impact of these drugs on the mental health of our soldiers.

Read entire article: http://www.times-news.com/opinion/local_story_221211323.html

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