Tag Archives: Antidepressant

Beware the ghost(writer)s of medical research

How ghostwriting feeds Big Pharma profits – Big Pharma firms spend twice as much on promotion as on research and development (R&D). But it is worse than that: more and more medical R&D is organized as promotional campaigns to make physicians aware of products. The bulk of the industry’s external funding for research now goes to contract research organizations to produce studies that feed into large numbers of articles submitted to medical journals.

Internal documents from Pfizer, made public in litigation, showed that 85 scientific articles on its antidepressant Zoloft were produced and coordinated by a public relations company. Pfizer itself thus produced a critical mass of the favourable articles placed among the 211 scientific papers on Zoloft in the same period. Internal documents tell similar stories for Merck’s Vioxx, GlaxoSmithKline’s Paxil, Astra-Zeneca’s Seroquel, and Wyeth’s hormone-replacement drugs.

Ending a Midlife Affair with Meds by Paulina Porizkova

I felt guilty. I felt unnatural. I felt ashamed. Finally, I broke down and confessed my dirty little secret to a girlfriend and found that she not only knew what I was talking about, but she was doing it, too. And the more I opened up about it, the more I found that I was not alone. Women in their late 30s and 40s were all having the same affair. With an antidepressant…

My affair with an antidepressant reinforced what I already knew: I’m not one for affairs. I’d rather fight tooth and nail to keep and restore what I have than take a break from it. But that is so much easier said than done with a Klonopin in my pocket.

The Problem With Rehab: Medicalizing Drug Addiction

The clients are receiving expensive inpatient care for services and treatment that could easily be managed in cheaper and less-acute-care outpatient settings, like intensive outpatient or partial hospital programs. And, most importantly, the clients are continuing to rely heavily on pills to combat their anxieties, mood changes and addiction.

Problem? Relying on pills got them to rehab in the first place. So what’s the point of attending and paying for — or charging a commercial insurance carrier, Medicare or Medicaid, or any other third-party payer — for an expensive retreat that leaves you in virtually the same mental place, or worse, than you started? Not that much.

Wellbutrin – To Promote or Not Promote… That is the Question

Lauren Stevens, the Glaxo associate general counsel, who is charged with one count of obstructing an official proceeding, one count of falsifying documents before a federal agency and four counts of making false statements to the FDA, has heard evidence given to a jury by James Millar, GSK vice president of strategic pricing, contracting and marketing. Millar had originally refused to testify but prosecutors persuaded the US District Judge [Roger W. Titus] to order him to give his testimony.

Autopsy of Florida School Board Shooter Shows Antidepressant in His System

ANAMA CITY — The man who held the Bay District School Board hostage before killing himself last year had an antidepressant, acetaminophen and foot fungus medication in his system, his autopsy revealed.

The report on Clay Duke was released Wednesday by the Bay County medical examiner’s office.

Duke, 56, killed himself Dec. 14 after firing several shots at school board members during a public meeting. Duke was brought down by three bullets from Mike Jones, the district’s chief of safety.

A toxicology report revealed that at the time of Duke’s death, he had atropine, a drug commonly used in emergency rooms to resuscitate dying patients; acetaminophen; Terbinafine, used to fight fungal infections in fingers and toes; and Citalopram, an antidepressant found in Celexa, in his system.

Forest Laboratories Inc., which makes Celexa, notes on its website the company urges patients to “call a health care provider right away if you or your family member has any of the following symptoms, especially if they are new, worse, or worry you: thoughts about suicide or dying, attempts to commit suicide, new or worse depression, new or worse anxiety, feeling very agitated or restless, panic attacks, trouble sleeping (insomnia), new or worse irritability, acting aggressive, being angry, or violent, acting on dangerous impulses, an extreme increase in activity and talking (mania), other unusual changes in behavior or mood.”