Ghostbusting in Paxil Birth Defect Litigation
03.03.10
"Drug companies frequently hire outside firms to draft a manuscript touting a company's drug, retain a physician to sign off as the author and then find a publisher to unwittingly publish the work," the Associated Press said on August 19, 2009. "Drug company salespeople often present medical journal articles to physicians as independent proof that their drugs are safe and effective."
Between 2000 and 2002, articles from the CASPPER program appeared in five medical journals. On August 21, 2009, Jim Edwards on BNET, described the CASSPER ghostwriting brochure. The document shows that the intent of CASSPER was to flood the market with ghostwritten information, he said. It stated: "Paxil Product Management has budgeted for 50 articles for 2000."
The trial in Kilker v Glaxo ended on October 13, 2009, with a jury in Philadelphia finding that Glaxo "negligently failed to warn" the doctor treating Lyam Kilker's mother about Paxil's risks and the drug was a "factual cause" of Lyam's heart defects. The family was award $2.5 million.
Source: Health Sentinel
The social environment shapes whether depression treatments work
11.03.10
Which contains a powerful and novel demonstration led by George Brown and Tirril Harris that the success of treatments is intimately connected to the social environment .
Brown and Harris have, in their previous work, found that significant depression is often preceded by very specific kinds of social contexts, particularly negative events that involve a theme of humiliation or entrapment.
The new study shows that these same social contexts also shape whether depression treatments will work. Shockingly, there had been virtually no research on whether the social environment influences the impact of antidepressant medications.
In their study, 220 patients with significant depression symptoms were randomly assigned to either supportive care or to SSRIs plus supportive care (SSRIs are the class of medications most commonly used to treat depression such as Prozac and Paxil).
The investigators undertook a detailed assessment of each person's social environment (both events that were negative and positive in nature) at the beginning of the study and 12 weeks later, after the treatments had begun.
Source: Psychology Today (blog)
Does heartburn lead to cancer?
09.03.10
Dear Dr. Donohue: I was diagnosed a year ago with Barrett's
esophagus with no dysplasia. I tried taking a generic version of
Nexium, but it did not help at all. A second doctor advised me not
to take drugs, since they didn't help. I tried more than one. I do
plan to get regular endoscopies. I have been living in fear for the
past year. Is Barrett's a death sentence for me? Am I at great risk
for cancer of the esophagus?
- L.R.
A: In some people, the eruption of stomach acid into the
esophagus - heartburn or, more formally, GERD, gastroesophageal
reflux disease - transforms lining cells in the lower part of the
esophagus into cells that resemble cells that line the colon. That
is Barrett's esophagus.
About 10 million Americans suffer from GERD. Around 1 million of
these people eventually will develop the changes of Barrett's.
People with Barrett's are at greater risk of developing esophageal
cancer, but the risk is small. However small the chance, all stops
are pulled out to detect cancer changes. That is accomplished by
following your doctor's schedule for scope exams of the
esophagus.
Source: Herald & Review
Since Paxil came on the market in 1992, there have been three separate types of failure to warn lawsuits filed against GlaxoSmithKline
The results of a new study suggest that exposure to antidepressants like Zoloft and Paxil during pregnancy may delay infant developmental goals,
A month before the first Paxil birth defect trial against GlaxoSmithKline was set to begin, the Associated Press ran the headline, "Glaxo Used Ghostwriting
supportive care or to SSRIs plus supportive care (SSRIs are the class of medications most commonly used to treat depression such as Prozac and Paxil).