Much has been said about the conflict of interest between the British drug regulator, (MHRA), and GlaxoSmithKline. It's obvious to those who know the history of GSK and the MHRA that there is a huge conflict of interest that just cannot be ignored and while such a conflict exists patients will not be safeguarded from the likes of Paxil, a drug marketed and manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.
I've met with the MHRA are a number of occasions, at one stage I offered to help them with their out of date and deeply flawed yellow card reporting system, a system where adverse events are collected and...well, basically nothing is ever done.
Communications between me and their then CEO, Kent Woods, broke down due to his refusal to acknowledge that Paxil, known as Seroxat in the UK, should be classed as a teratogen. A teratogen is an agent or factor that causes malformation of an embryo.
Much of my communication with the MHRA is in my book, 'The evidence however, is clear, the Seroxat scandal' [1]
In 2013 Kent Woods retired and the MHRA appointed Dr Ian Hudson (pic above) as their new CEO.
Hudson, who after leaving Glaxo in 2001, became the MHRA's Licensing Director, responsible for overseeing the benefits and risks of drugs before they hit the market.
Yup, the man in charge of the agency who have the job of keeping tabs on the drugs you and I take is a former employee of GSK - then known as SmithKline Beecham.
Hudson, whilst working for GSK, was a witness for the defence [GSK] during the Tobin v SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals. In 1998 Donald Schell was put on Paxil [Seroxat]. Forty-eight hours later he put three bullets from two different guns through his wife's head, as well as through his daughter's head then through his granddaughter's head before shooting himself through the head.
Hudson's deposition has been online for sometime in text form, a copy of it can be viewed here.
Sadly, it's been difficult trying to obtain the actual video footage of Hudson being depoed by US attorneys representing Tobin.
We do, however, have a small segment of his video deposition.
In 2002 Investigative journalist Shelley Jofre launched her first installment into the whole Paxil debacle. BBC Panorama's 'The Secrets of Seroxat' was aired and it prompted over 67,000 calls and emails from concerned consumers.
During the documentary Shelley touched on the case of Donald Schell. The footage in the documentary revealed part of Dr Ian Hudson's video deposition. Remember, at the time, Hudson was a GSK employee.
Watch.... (Hudson was depoed in 2000)
**If the video starts with Andy Vickery talking then click the bar to end of video then press play**
In 2008 the MHRA concluded a four year investigation of GlaxoSmithKline, the crux of which was to find out whether GlaxoSmithKline withheld paediatric safety data pertaining to suicide related to its antidepressant Seroxat. They decided not proceed to criminal prosecution. It's unknown if they interviewed their own Dr Ian Hudson during their four year investigation. [2]
As I said, Dr Ian Hudson is now the Chief Executive of the MHRA, the agency that purportedly protects British consumers of prescription drugs.
I don't know about you but this doesn't really fill me with a sense that I am being protected from dangerous drugs. Does it you?
All four Paxil videos will soon be available in their entirety on Rxisk.
Bob Fiddaman
[2] GSK investigation concludes [Link]
No comments: