| Jan 09 |
Swiss drug company’s botched bottles may threaten American consumersDo you feel safe when it comes to the drugs you buy to protect your health? If so, maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe wariness is more fitting when you focus on pharmaceuticals.
Take this outrage from Swiss drug maker Novartis. It’s recalling some containers of Bufferin, NoDoz, Excedrin and Gas-X due to worries that they may have broken or chipped tablets or random pills from other medicines. (more…) |
| Aug 17 |
Drug companies ditching Facebook as truth nears via user complaints
Facebook had given drug companies the privilege to block comments on their Walls in advance in order to get their business. But Facebook has changed its mind. Now drug companies, like anyone else, must have an open Wall where comments can appear when they’re made. (more…) |
Starting this week, drug companies aren’t getting their way on Facebook. They aren’t getting the cushy Facebook deal which had allowed them to block users’ ability to comment on their page “Walls.” Instead, they’re now open to criticism, and many are folding their tents instead of facing the music.| May 03 |
SSRI prescribed in ‘Glee’ may spur a depressing use of an antidepressant
Though an SSRI might ease the OCD of Mays’ character, high school counselor Emma Pillsbury, it’s troublesome that the psychiatrist would prescribe it for a woman without first asking: “Are you pregnant, or do you expect to become pregnant soon?” That’s because many SSRI drugs — though they may ease depression and anxiety — also may lead to serious birth defects for the offspring of women who take them during pregnancy. (more…) |
On last week’s episode of hit Fox TV series Glee, a psychiatrist played by Kathleen Quinlan counseled a patient played by Jayma Mays and prescribed an SSRI for her OCD. That is, she prescribed a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor for her obsessive compulsive disorder.| Mar 01 |
Heart, lung, brain and other Paxil birth defects plague America’s newborn infants
This defective drug has been shown to cause dozens of birth defects, from heart, lung and brain ailments to defects of the spinal cord, digestive tract, urinary tracts, abdominal wall and limbs. Some birth defects occur naturally and may be hereditary. Paxil birth defects do not. Paxil birth defects are directly caused by a defective drug taken during pregnancy. |
A child’s birth can be a couple’s most glorious moment. But imagine when that moment is marred by learning their newborn infant suffers birth defects. That’s what is happening to many Americans after a mother-to-be took antidepressant Paxil during pregnancy.| Dec 29 |
Dangerous acne treatment easily available on Internet
All this, despite a Food and Drug Administration website that warns against buying Accutane over the Internet because of the drug’s 15 serious side effects, including two life-long diseases of the gut with the potential to kill those who develop them after taking it. |
A quick google search of the Internet turns up lots of websites selling Accutane in spite of federal warnings about the powerful drug. One site, with the unforgettable web address of “cheap pills,” has a brief two-line description of the acne treatment drug, followed by a lengthy price sheet offering Accutane pills in varying amounts with no reference to the drug’s side effects.| Dec 08 |
Pharmaceutical companies kill 200,000 Americans yearly, enabled by murky foreign testing of new drugs
You may wonder why. You may believe that new drugs are always pre-tested in pharmaceutical trials to ensure their safety. How can such drugs then kill thousands while earning billions in profits for their manufacturers? |
When hundreds or even thousands of Americans are killed by a war, an accident or other violent means, the nation reacts with grief if not outrage. Yet 200,000 Americans are being killed each year by an entity that rarely rises on the nation’s outrage radar: the pharmaceutical industry.| Oct 27 |
Feds fine GSK $750 million for mislabeled, contaminated drugs, including Paxil
While British-based GSK makes billions of dollars in profits by selling drugs, it too often fails to use those profits to safeguard its customers. In this case, the government found gross negligence by GSK at its factory in Cidra, Puerto Rico. There, the feds found that GSK was producing drugs for sale to Americans which were mislabeled, contaminated with micro-organisms and had the wrong dosage. |
GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, whose antidepressant drug Paxil causes heart injuries and other birth defects in innocent babies, has been hit with a $750 million fine after the U.S. Justice Department brought suit against it.| Oct 19 |
Big pharmaceuticals make billions after harmful drugs such as Avandia clear brief testing hurdles
Boosting such strategies is the fact that America’s large “Baby Boomer” population is getting older, and despite a plethora of chronic diseases, many such people are living longer. Thus, an enormous marketing opportunity exists for drug companies which can convince these people — and their physicians — to use their drugs. |
Taking prescription drugs is supposed to be about enhancing your health. But in truth, it’s often a function of giant pharmaceutical companies’ agendas. Bent on making billions, they target large markets with drugs that they can peddle for a lifetime, creating steady flows of revenue.| Sep 08 |
Paxil birth defects spur defective drug lawsuits
Paxil even could affect a newborn’s life if the mother starts taking it while breast-feeding her child. Thus, Paxil and babies do not mix. Yet GSK hasn’t concerned itself with such dangers while reaping up to $1 billion in sales of the defective drug in a single year. |
Across America, innocent children are suffering because a giant pharmaceutical corporation was negligent. That would be British-based GlaxoSmithKline, or GSK, whose antidepressant known as Paxil has been found to cause Paxil birth defects in the infants of women who took the defective drug during pregnancy.| Jul 30 |
Fentanyl pain patch products merit scrutiny for potential dangers
A medical examiner’s autopsy report was just released in the deaths of Coppell, TX Mayor Jayne Peters, 55, and daughter Corinne Peters, 19. Both were found dead of gunshots at their home on July 13. The daughter’s death was ruled a homicide by the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s office, while the mother’s death was deemed “consistent” with being a “self-inflicted act.” |
A Dallas suburb’s mayor and her daughter are dead, and fentanyl pain patches found in the aftermath — while not blamed — have drawn attention to the powerful narcotic.