Big Pharma paid $500,000 to Chicago psychiatrist who used children as guinea pigs

A federal lawsuit has been filed against pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca for its role in paying Chicago psychiatrist Dr. Michael Reinstein nearly $500,000 over the course of a decade to conduct research and to promote its anti-psychotic drug, Seroquel. Cited in the lawsuit was the fact that Reinstein would continually prescribe roughly double the amount of drugs other psychiatrists would prescribe for the same conditions.

That British Drug Maker Glaxo’s $1 Billion Paxil Settlements Were Disclosed by Press – Not Drug Maker – Is Cause for Concern

The fact that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has paid $1 billion to settle lawsuits related to Paxil was disclosed by Bloomberg and not the company itself illustrates how lousy financial disclosure rules are in Europe and why drug companies based there cannot be trusted to tell the truth about what is going on with their litigation liabilities and, by extension, the safety of their drugs.

NAMI – the ‘patients rights’ group which is really funded by & a major lobbying arm of Psycho/Pharma – is on the defensive

After reports that most donations made to the big advocacy group came from drug makers in recent years, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) agreed to disclose its funding sources. The disclosure, however, came after protracted criticism of NAMI for coordinating lobbying efforts with drug makers and pushing legislation that also benefits the pharma industry.

50 to 79 Year-old Women on Antidepressants Are 45% More Likely to Have a Stroke and Are at 32% Higher Risk of Death

The study examined data from 136,293 study participants, aged 50 to 79, who were not taking antidepressants when they enrolled in the study, and who were followed for an average of six years. The researchers observed a significant difference in stroke rates: antidepressant users were 45 percent more likely to experience strokes than women who weren’t taking antidepressants. The study also found that when overall death rates (all-cause mortality) were compared between the two groups, those on antidepressants had a 32 percent higher risk of death from all causes compared with non-users.