Glaxo's Andrew Witty Has Personal Details Appear on Twitter

As much as I don't really care much for Andrew Witty or anyone else associated with Glaxo for that matter, I feel I must protest at recent events on the social networking website, Twitter.

An account was created that allegedly posted the home address of Glaxo's CEO, Andrew Witty.

Not nice.

I won't throw up any links, my obsessive stalker, has already done that ~ of course trying to associate me with the said account on Twitter.

I think if one is going to be critical of the pharmaceutical industry then posting a CEO's address serves no purpose, in fact it does the complete opposite.

I can understand the anger of Seroxat/Paxil users, trying to wean off an addictive drug with no help from the company that made it can be frustrating and, in many cases, life-threatening. To start posting the home address of Glaxo's CEO was below the belt.

As I understand, the accounts responsible have now been removed, and rightly so as they overstepped the mark.

Witty's address still circulates, I fear for him as my obsessive stalker, RIP Troller, Jeremy Bryce, has now republished it on his fake Seroxat Sufferers blog - again I won't link in to it because that would just be wrong. He's also done the same with my address...in 16 separate blog posts.

Glaxo's UK based lawyers, Addleshaw Goddard, should be able to track down Bryce quite easily, seeing as he apparently wrote to them back in 2009.

I've not gone soft on Witty or GSK, I still don't like the way they suppressed Seroxat data in clinical trials, I still don't like the way they refuse to help people wean off their addictive drug Seroxat, I still don't like the way they make settlements out of court to victims of their drugs without admitting liability, in general, I still don't like them nor do I like lawyers that represent them.



For the record, the following Twitter accounts have nothing to do with me:

@SirRoxat

@A_Witty_parody [now removed]

@seroxatkills [now removed]

@BryceWillStalkU

@JeremyBrycejoke

Glaxo Return To The Scene of the Crime

How GSK's Ulverston factory looked in 2008

GlaxoSmithKline have announced that they are investing £500million into manufacturing in the UK, including the opening of a new factory in Ulverston, Cumbria.

Good news for the British economy but not so good, one would imagine, for the local residents of  Ulverston.

This from the Corporate Watch website:


According to the Factory Watch website, GSK’s chemical plant in Ulverston is one of the most carcinogenic polluters in the UK. Factory Watch’s information, compiled from Environment agency data, looked at over 1,500 factories nation-wide. The Ulverston site was ranked number three on Factory Watch’s list, emitting 773 tonnes of carcinogens in 2001, 10 per cent of the national total.


In September 1992 the Ulverston site (then owned by Glaxo Wellcome) dumped several toxic chemicals in the river Leven, without authorisation. The chemicals included trichloroethylene, chloroform, and chlorobenzene.[1]


Also, in May 1994, the Ulverston site discharged, again without authorisation, 1,350m3 of “ineffectively treated effluent” into M. The company was required by law to notify the authorities within 24 hours, but they didn’t until six days later.[2]

The new plant in Ulverston is expected to be up and running by 2020... plenty of time for the local residents to move away from the area then.

I'm reminded of a great scene from the movie Erin Brockovich.


[At the meeting with the PG & E lawyers]


Ms. Sanchez: Let's be honest here. $20 million dollars is more money then these people have ever dreamed of.

Erin Brockovich: Oh see, now that pisses me off. First of all, since the demur we have more than 400 plaintiffs and... let's be honest, we all know there are more out there. They may not be the most sophisticated people but they do know how to divide and $20 million isn't shit when you split it between them. Second of all, these people don't dream about being rich. They dream about being able to watch their kids swim in a pool without worrying that they'll have to have a hysterectomy at the age of twenty. Like Rosa Diaz, a client of ours. Or have their spine deteriorate, like Stan Blume, another client of ours. So before you come back here with another lame ass offer, I want you to think real hard about what your spine is worth, Mr. Walker. Or what you might expect someone to pay you for your uterus, Ms. Sanchez. Then you take out your calculator and you multiply that number by a hundred. Anything less than that is a waste of our time.

[Ms. Sanchez picks up a glass of water]


Erin Brockovich: By the way, we had that water brought in special for you folks. Came from well in Hinkley.




1. Friends of the Earth, Factory Watch press release, 8 February, 1999
2. ENDS Report 292, May 1999, pp. 33-34
Further reading [Page 29]  Capital Punishment: UK insurance companies and the global environment

Some other reasons Why Glaxo's "investment" is merely a smokescreen for their past history.








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Irish Minister To Meet With Antidepressant Experts

Kathleen Lynch, the Irish minister responsible for mental health, has agreed to meet with former state pathologist Declan Gilsenan, Leonie Fennell, the mother of Shane Clancy, who killed a man and took his own life after a short time on Cipramil [Celexa], psychiatrist Prof David Healy, and a former government minister.

Gilsenan had earlier this month spoke about his concerns regarding the amount of suicides he had seen where the victim had recently started taking a course of antidepressant type medication.

Today's Irish Examiner writes:

He [Gilsenan] said in his 30-year experience carrying out postmortems, he had seen "too many suicides" after people had recently started taking the drugs. At Mr Clancy’s inquest, Dr Gilsenan testified there were "toxic" levels of citalopram (brand name Celexa or Cipramil) in Mr Clancy’s blood. 

This move by the Irish minister comes after many patient advocates, including Healy himself, have raised concerns about the antidepressant/suicide link to the British drug regulator, the MHRA. Years of campaigning and meetings with the MHRA have, it appears, fallen on deaf ears and the MHRA continue to give drugs, such as Cipramil, a clean bill of health.

Fennell, who has been threatened in the past by Irish psychiatrist Patricia Casey, hopes the meeting will give Lynch an insight into the lack of warnings provided with these medications.

It will be interesting to see if Kathleen Lynch takes this huge problem by the horns and actually does something about it. A meeting with pharmaceutical executives would be a start as would access to the raw data used in clinical trials to determining whether or not taking these drugs is proving to be more risky than beneficial.

My glass is half-empty on this but I applaud the efforts of Healy, Gilsenan and Fennell for bringing it to the attention of Lynch. It seems Ireland is waking up, my only hope is that Lynch doesn't, like the MHRA, hit the snooze button.




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MHRA's Kent Woods Defends His Corner

I always love a good old ding-dong in the national press, especially when it involves a highly paid chief executive of the MHRA.

Kent Woods [CEO MHRA] has saw it fit to defend his agency this morning in a letter that has appeared on The Guardian website.

Woods is responding to an earlier article by George Monbiot who had accused the MHRA of being 'unbalanced' , pointing to the facts that the MHRA's board contains retired senior executives from AstraZeneca and Merck Sharp & Dohme...he failed to mention GlaxoSmithKline.

Woods, seemingly incensed at Monbiot's reference, has decided to go public with his response in which he defends the agency's position in hiring previous employees of the pharmaceutical industry. Woods states:

"Given the highly technical nature of the agency's work, a proportion of senior scientific staff are recruited from, or have past employment in, the pharmaceutical industry. First-hand knowledge of industry practices and working methods is essential for effective regulation."

Meh.

Limp-wristed again, eh Kent?

He adds:

"All the agency's staff have complied with the staff conflicts of interest policy, which does not allow any staff member to hold interests in the pharmaceutical and medical technologies (devices) industries."

I think you are missing the point Kent.

I also think Woods is burying his head in the sand - 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas'?

Does Kent Woods honestly believe that employing ex-employees of the pharmaceutical industry can help for a better regulation of prescription drugs?

The current Head of Licensing at the MHRA, Dr Ian Hudson, must have hugely failed Woods. Hudson was the former World Safety Officer at SmithKline Beecham [Now GSK] - he worked closely with Seroxat during his spell at GSK yet when the MHRA carried out a four-year investigation into GSK [for hiding pediatric data and putting children at risk] Woods chose not to:

1. Cross-examine Hudson

and

2. Press criminal charges against GSK

Also interesting to note is that former MHRA employee, Rashmi Shah, is now an expert witness for GSK in the UK Seroxat group action. It was an investigative journalist friend of mine, Evie Pringle, that coined the term, 'The regulatory revolving door'. One out, one in, eh Kent?

At this point it may be worth stating that the MHRA's Chairman, Alasdair Breckenridge, is also a former employee of SmithKline Beecham [Now GSK]

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, eh Kent?

Woods and I have had our disagreements over the years, it's all in my book, the disagreements, the email correspondence, the denial that Seroxat is a teratogen, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

I've also met with Kent Woods. I met with him to discuss the problems people facing SSRi withdrawal are having. I also arranged for the MHRA to meet with the world's leading expert on SSRi withdrawal, Dr David Healy.

Healy presented an SSRi withdrawal protocol to the MHRA almost one year after I met with them... that protocol still remains on the table collecting cobwebs.

The MHRA recently rolled out an 'SSRi Withdrawal Module' for GP's up and down the country. Part of their recommendations to GP's was to refer those suffering severe SSRi withdrawal to 'withdrawal specialists'.

When I asked the MHRA for a list of these so called SSRi withdrawal specialists they could not provide me with one single name. Furthermore, they told me, after three emails, that they would not discuss the matter with me any more. [Links at foot of this post]

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, eh Kent?

The MHRA like to believe that they are helping people, when in actual fact they aren't.

They are, if you will, an agency for the pharmaceutical industry. They hold out the hand of friendship to patient advocates and invite them to meetings to appease them. Nothing more, nothing less.

A much better service is now in the offering, a service that encourages patients to send in adverse reaction reports by way of anecdotal emails, something the MHRA refuse to address. [See RxISK]

To be honest, the MHRA lost my respect many years ago. Former CEO of MIND, the mental health charity, summed it all up for me when he wrote a piece for The Daily Mail:

Last week I resigned from the Government's watchdog on anti-depressants after it tried to cover up its own ten-year failure to identify serious side-effects of the controversial drug Seroxat.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulation Agency found from information that had been in its possession for more than a decade that high doses of the anti-depressant can lead to aggression and thoughts of suicide.

But instead of revealing the truth to the 17,000 people taking high doses and the other half-million Britons on a safer dose, the MHRA sat on its findings.

Brooke added, "Astonishingly, I was actually threatened with legal action by Professor Kent Woods, chief executive of the MHRA, if I revealed this."

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, eh Kent?

Chapter 18 of my book [link at bottom] is entitled, "Is Seroxat a teratogen...Goodbye MHRA", all correspondence between myself and Woods can be read in there.



Related:


Another Boob From the MHRA

MHRA To 'Re-educate' UK Doctor's on SSRi's Part I

MHRA To 'Re-educate' UK Doctor's on SSRi's Part II "Keeping A Stiff Upper Lip"

MHRA To 'Re-educate' UK Doctor's on SSRi's Part III - MHRA's Ghosts In The Machine

MHRA In Buck-Passing Specialist Cahoots

MHRA - More on the Mysterious "Ghost Specialists"

MHRA Wishing To Call The Shots

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'Climate Change Delusion' - The Latest Mental Disorder From the Field of Psychiatry

Just when you'd thought you'd heard everything that the field of psychiatry could throw at you to tell you that you have an illness related to chemical changes in your brain, comes a real gem from Australia.

Climate Change Delusion is, apparently, an obsession related to climate change.

The study, carried out by Mairwen K Jones, Bethany M Wootton, Lisa D Vaccaro and Ross G Menzies found that a substantial proportion of Obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD] patients with checking compulsions have climate change concerns.

The wizards of Oz found that fourteen of the 50 participants [28%] were identified as having OCD concerns directly related to climate change and they concluded:

"Our findings demonstrate that the types of obsessions and compulsions experienced by 28% of our sample were directly aligned with the current issue of climate change and the perceived dangers associated with this phenomenon. To our knowledge this represents the first documentation of the significant impact of climate change on the nature of the concerns experienced by people with OCD checking subtype. We suggest that mental health professionals need to be aware of, and assess for the presence of such concerns."


The last line is startling, isn't it?

We suggest that mental health professionals need to be aware of, and assess for the presence of such concerns.


The power of suggestion is, it seems, alive and well in Australia.

The study claims that, "The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper." In other words, it wasn't, ahem, ghostwritten.

In other news... Orthorexia Nervosa, [ON] the compulsion to eat healthy foods pure or organic foods, has also been created out of thin air by those wacky white coated lunatics.

I kid you not.

This from the online abstract:

"The majority of participants stated that ON can be serious and incapacitating, and that it had mental, physical, social, and financial consequences."


It's apparent, to me at least, that the field of psychiatry have, or want to, corner every market. Turning over in your sleep will soon become a mental disorder at this rate!



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Seroxat Secrets, Half a Million of Them

Seroxat Secrets has reached a milestone. The author of the popular blog has just announced that his hits have gone over the half a million mark - that's great going!

It's a terrific blog full of useful information about Seroxat, GlaxoSmithKline and the MHRA. The author pulls no punches either, he writes:

A few years ago I added a page to Seroxat Secrets, ‘What I believe’ – and it’s still what I believe:

I believe Seroxat is defective and dangerous.

I believe that Glaxo has hidden negative clinical trial data that shows exactly how dangerous a drug it is.

I believe that Seroxat is addictive.

I believe that Seroxat can cause anger, aggression and violence.

I believe that something must be done to help people who suffer terrible problems during withdrawal, as they desperately try to stop taking Seroxat.

I believe that doctors have taken large sums of money from Glaxo to lie about the efficacy and safety of the drug.

I believe that GlaxoSmithKline puts profits before patients – their wealth before our health.

I took Seroxat for 9 years and it took me 22 months to withdraw from the drug little by little.

Believe me – I know what I’m talking about.

There is just one thing I’d add to this list today:

Glaxo must not be allowed to get away with it.

I met the author of Seroxat Secrets in London a couple of years ago. I hope to meet him again someday soon. The drinks are on me sir.

Seroxat Secrets is a wealth of information and can be viewed HERE


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Aussie Mental Health Minister Helen Morton in Mud Slinging Campaign

WA Mental Health Minister Helen Morton

Well, it appears that the Western Australian Health Minister, Helen Morton, has joined the ranks of the DeLorean driving posse [Paddy McGorry et al] and slammed those who have slammed the draft of the proposed changes in the Aussie mental health legislation. One of the proposals is to allow children to consent to being prescribed mind-altering medication and treatment such as ECT.

In typical [now unfashionable] fashion, Morton has accused the Church of Scientology of running a scare campaign.

[Insert laughter here]

ABC News Australia showed how The Citizen's Commission on Human Rights Australia [CCHR] have been handing out thousands of leaflets to protest against the new proposals, prompting Morton to label them.

Oh the irony.


Does Morton think that every single person who criticises these farcical proposals is a Scientologist?

The ABC News footage can be viewed here, most striking comment comes from Morton herself, via the reporter:

"The draft bill is just that and it's unlikely than many of the proposals will end up in the final version."


Anyone else think that Morton is missing the bigger picture here?

She should be criticising rather than name-calling, although it's common place for people to refer to mental health critics as Scientologists, usually because the person mud-slinging really does not have a clue what they are talking about and even if they did...they just don't know what to do about it.

So, sit back Ms or Mrs Morton, rest those weary feet of yours and do nothing. Meantime, the draft bill proposal will be assessed and pushed by the powers that be to include the latest set of mental health illnesses that can only be cured by Pharma drugs, in turn making millions of Aussie tax dollars for the current Australian government. Even Paddy McGorry has openly criticised the draft bill.

I'm left wondering what religion Morton is behind, it's a fair enough question, isn't it?

I don't see Catholics, Muslims or any other religion speaking out against these moronic proposals. I do, however, see a growing number of academics and patient advocates rising up, many of which cannot be labelled by the likes of Morton and the rest of the DeLorean driving posse from down under.

When a cause is effective there will be those who wish to shoot it down. CCHR are effective and that, ladies and gentlemen is pissing off the hierarchy so much that the only thing they can come back with is the Scientology slur.

I'm not a Scientologist, despite being labelled one many times usually by my pensioner stalker, a mindless cretin from Northern Ireland. I have many Scientologist friends, same as I have many Catholic, Muslim and Hindu friends. I don't judge people because of their need to have a religion in their life. I do, however, question the likes of Morton who can openly claim that CCHR are scaremongering. I think if she reads the proposals for the DSM-5, she will see clearly who the ones are that are scaremongering.

You know, if I was a kid I'd like someone to watch out for me. I'm reminded of the film 101 Dalmations and the character Cruella de Vil. In this instance the victims are children and not dogs.

Words fail me. Fortunately CCHR Australia are not failing, they are creating an awareness that da man just doesn't like. Da man's only form of weaponry is his mouth and the tired, worn out excuse that those wishing to safeguard children are Scientologists.

Blow it out yer arse Australia!

For the record, I believe in Karma.

Related: Psychiatrists slam WA plan to seek children's consent

Glaxo Issue Severe or Life-Threatening Warning on Lupus Drug

GlaxoSmithKline have sent out 'Dear Healthcare Professional' letters regarding new findings that their drug, Benlysta, used in the treatment of lupus, may result in severe or life-threatening hypersensitivity and infusion reactions.

Benlysta [belimumab] was approved by the FDA just one year ago and is delivered directly into a vein. Glaxo are now reporting that:

Recently, a number of post-marketing reports concerning serious acute hypersensitivity reactions, some of which appear to have been delayed beyond the typical 1-2 hours seen in previous clinical trials, have been identified. Patients have been reported to develop acute symptoms several hours after the infusion has been given, for example in the evening on the day the drug was administered. One patient died after she developed dyspnea, respiratory distress, hypoxia and angioedema following the second infusion of belimumab.

On approving the drug in March 2011, the FDA wrote, "Two clinical studies involving 1,684 patients with lupus demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of Benlysta."


The Glaxo warning adds: The Package Leaflet is currently being revised.


But don't expect to see any full-page ads in the press or commercials on TV. These letters are just sent out to healthcare professionals who will no doubt be forced to make that "Benefit vs Risk" decision when administering Benlysta.

Ironically, earlier this month Glaxo Chief, Andrew Witty, criticized the UK government because he thought the drug approval process should be made quicker.

It would appear that Glaxo want to get the drugs on the streets then worry about the consequences later.

Benlysta has been on the market for just a year in the US. The FDA approved it by a 13-to-2 vote, despite concerns that the drug was only marginally effective. In the one year it has been on the market it has fattened the wallet of GlaxoSmithKline. This latest news about Benlysta's severe adverse reactions was found on the Irish Medicine's Board website - Ireland is hardly the biggest country in the world but GSK can always say, "Hey, we did send out warnings."


Earlier this year Judge Marcelo Aguinsky fined GlaxoSmithKline 400,000 Argentinian Pesos [about £60,000] for its part in the 2007/08 vaccine trials conducted in Argentina where 14 children died.

GlaxoSmithKline helps people to do more, feel better and live longer.



Parts 2 and 3

EXCLUSIVE - Paxil Author in Sex With Patient Scandal

Paxil author Ray Berard. [Pic timeslive.co.za]

Forgive the News of the Worldesque type headline for this blog post but I just couldn't resist it. I always love it when psychiatrists, particularly those connected with 'bigging up' the use of Paxil in children, give me the opportunity to play some AC/DC.

Read on.

South Africa's Cape Times is running with a story today that implicates Paxil [Seroxat in UK] author and psychiatrist Ray Berard in a sex scandal with one of his former patients.

Sylvia Ireland has accused Berard of misusing their therapy sessions to have sex. Ireland claims that she and Berard had a sexual relationship for two years whilst she was under his care. At the time, claims Ireland, she was using three types of medication, all prescribed by Berard for bipolar and having a personality disorder.

Berard, who is the co-owner of Selous House, a facility for patients with chronic mental illness in Western Cape, South Africa, has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him, including:

Entering into an intimate physical relationship with his patient.
Having sexual intercourse with her more than once.
Failing to refer her to another psychiatrist or to cease the doctor-patient relationship with her when the intimate sexual relationship developed.
Misusing the position of trust and confidence towards his patient.
Acting in a way likely to bring his profession into disrepute.

Selous House now runs under the name of St Anthony’s Home, a lavish psychiatric care facility whose fees seem even more lavish. For  R7,500 [£630 - $990] per month patients can opt for a cubicle in a dormitory setting. R9000 per month [£750 - $1,185] will give you a single room without a shower...on top of which you are expected to pay the 8.4% VAT.

I never knew psychiatrists wages were so good that one could go out and make such a great investment.

Not yet reported and exclusive to Seroxat Sufferers is the news that Berard has links to the Paxil pediatric studies in adolescents.

Berard, who along with Pharma favorite Karen Wagner, co-authored A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Paroxetine in Children and Adolescents With Social Anxiety Disorder, the results of which showed "Paroxetine [Paxil] as an effective, generally well-tolerated treatment for pediatric social anxiety disorder."


He also, along with Neal Ryan [he of Paxil 329 fame] presented a poster presentation to The European College of Neuropsychopharmacology [ECNP] in 1998 entitled, 'Adolescent Depression: Efficacy of paroxetine'

Late last year The Star reported that Berard had also entered into a business relationship with Ireland's husband. The Star claims that Stuart Ireland appointed Berard as a director of his company Prestige Cosmetics while the psychiatrist continued to send erotic text messages to Sylvia Ireland. Hey, nice set of ethics Raymundo. One of the messages allegedly sent by Berard was: "It's hard as a rock." 


Nothing to be ashamed of Raymundo... but those Paxil claims, tut tut.

Ironically, I hear Paxil is good for keeping your pecker up, also keeps the wolf from the door too, that's if you don't mind turning into a homicidal maniac whilst you're on the job. - Woof! Woof! AWOOOOOOO


This one's for you Dr Berard.





The case in front of the Health Professions Council of SA committee of inquiry continues today.

Full article HERE

The Shane Clancy Case: Celexa Induced Homicide/Suicide

22 Year Old Shane Clancy

Three striking articles to report on today, two from the Irish Examiner and one from the pen of SSRi withdrawal expert Prof. David Healy.

Each discusses the case of Shane Clancy, a young man from Ireland who, after digesting a large amount of Celexa, killed a young man before stabbing himself in the chest 19 times, resulting in his death.

At first glance the Clancy case seems open and shut. Young man breaks up with girlfriend, realises his mistake, tries to reconcile relationship, learns his former girlfriend is seeing someone else, kills 'someone else' in fit of rage.

You'd be hard put to find any kind of supporting evidence for the Clancy family... unless you knew about the way SSRi's such as Celexa work on young minds.

Delving deep into the history of Shane Clancy and you will learn that he was just your normal run of the mill young man. At 22 he was furthering his education at Dublin college, after his relationship breakdown he travelled to the far-east and Australia but returned early to try and reconcile.

Seemingly feeling the effects of a broken heart Shane was prescribed Celexa, [known as Cipramil in Europe] manufactured by Lundbeck [Forest Pharmaceuticals in the US]. Around three weeks later Shane was dead as was another young man, Sebastian Creane.

I found it difficult to write about this case when news first broke. I toyed with the idea that I would be upsetting the family of the victim. It was after some soul-searching that I realised that both young men were the victim and any one who doubts that need to see how Celexa use has been tied in with many suicidal acts in children and young adults.

The same story comes out almost every time...'just your average teen with no prior thoughts of suicide...'

It's safe to say that I may show a bias in my reporting of the Clancy case. I've met both Tony and Leonie [Shane's parents] and, as timing would have it, am meeting them again next month.

Ironically, it's almost 12 months ago that I interviewed Leonie Fennell in a special podcast for this blog, an interview that is hard hitting and one that I found difficult to play back and listen to once completed. The interview is below and lasts for about an hour.

There are those who sit on the side of the fence and say that parents will always try to blame anyone but their children for acts of homicide, these same people will also blame anything else but the medication the child was on. It's hard to argue against their stance until you see other cases of suicide on these drugs. One such case would be that of Matthew Steubing, an American teenager who, after being prescribed a course of antidepressants [Lexapro] jumped from a bridge and killed himself. He was just 18. Lexapro is the sister drug to Celexa and was heavily promoted to be safe and effective in the treatment of depression. Despite it not being recommended for children and adolescents, healthcare professionals were still allowed to prescribe it.

Just like many of the SSRi drugs out there today are not meant for this age group, they are still being prescribed. The pharmaceutical companies, who have studied the use of these drugs in children, don't speak out against doctor's prescribing them because it makes them lots of money. The regulator's sit and shrug their shoulders and claim that they have sent out warnings to healthcare professionals - that one simple act clears their conscience that they are doing the right thing and protecting this vulnerable population. It;'s akin to giving a small child a box of matches with a warning that they will harm if used incorrectly.

Shane Clancy should never have been prescribed Celexa. His prescribing doctor weighed up the benefits versus the risks. The benefits are what he/she would have been told by the travelling salesman [Lundbeck rep] and what published studies he/she may have read about Celexa in adolescent use, studies written by Lundbeck and Forest's handpicked key opinion leaders...any of the negative studies about Celexa would not have been made public, assuming that there were negative studies.

Pharmaceutical companies are in business to make money, they are not in the business to make you and I feel better - that would be corporate suicide. They want you to take their drugs for a lifetime and if you don't have any illness that fits then they just simply invent one or two disorders by proxy [DSM].

It's a licence to print money.

It's a licence to kill.

Here's the interview I did with Shane's mom last year.

Related Links

Professional suicide – the Clancy case - David Healy

Shane Clancy Blog

Irish Examiner

‘Too many’ suicides linked to depression tablets

Anti-depressant drugs - Investigate claimed link to suicides

Toxins in Hip Replacements - MHRA Sat on Information for 4 Years

We've all heard the joke about the guy with the plastic hip replacement who stood next to the fire to keep warm and ended up having his hip melted, right?

Seems trivial in comparison to recent news that has surfaced on BBC Newsnight.


The investigation found that ions can seep into the surrounding tissue to destroy muscle and bone and spread to the lymph nodes, spleen, liver and kidneys, potentially causing damage. Furthermore, the researchers also had concerns that the ions could affect chromosomes, ultimately resulting in genetic changes.

According to a 2005 internal memo from implant manufacturer DePuy Orthopaedics, a division of Johnson & Johnson, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency [MHRA], appointed a committee in 2006 that found that patients should be told about the risks. That alert came 4 years later! [1]

Ringing any bells?

Kent Woods, the MHRA's Chief Executive, nonchalantly dismissed questions posed to him on Newsnight by Jeremy Paxman. When asked by Paxman if the MHRA wanted to apologise to all those people for whom the operations went wrong, answered, "I think the agency has acted with great thoroughness in recent years. We have a situation in the UK where we were essentially concerned about the patterns of wear these joints, which had been very widely used, [500,000 metal on metal joints]. We were the first agency to put out a safety notice."


So, no apology then Kent?

Take his answer and compare it with what MHRA Chairman, Alasdair Breckenridge, said in a BBC interview back in 2004 about Seroxat.

Breckenridge was grilled by BBC journalist Shelley Jofre and asked whether two years was an acceptable delay in relaying information about the suicide link in Seroxat. She asked him what the MHRA had to say to those children exposed to a harmful drug and also their parents.

Breckenridge answered:

"When we received the information we acted with great rapidity...", he added, "When information like this comes in it is investigated, firstly we investigate individual reports. 


So, no apology then Alasdair?

The MHRA had been accused of sitting on information by former Chief Executive of MIND, Richard Brook. Upon learning this, Brook was told by the MHRA not to go public with it.

Compare the two statements and you'll probably find that these have been carefully drawn up by lawyers.

Woods on hip replacements 2012 - "I think the agency has acted with great thoroughness in recent years."


Breckenridge on Seroxat 2004 - "When we received the information we acted with great rapidity..."


The MHRA's failure to get information out to the public regarding metal hip replacements can be read here, there are also two videos to watch, including Paxman's grilling of Kent Woods.

The MHRA's corporate statement is, "We enhance and safeguard the health of the public by ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe."


Pinocchio is a novice by comparison.

[1] Metals from hip replacements present toxic risk for millions, investigation warns [CBS News]





Fid


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