FDA, drug maker come under fire over secret test results
March 23, 2009 by Personal Liberty News Desk
AstraZeneca and the FDA are facing criticism over antipsychotic drug Seroquel which numerous lawsuits allege causes metabolic disorders.
A case against the company will be heard in Delaware state court beginning June 29. It alleges that Seroquel has caused schizophrenic patients to develop diabetes, excessive weight gain and other metabolic conditions, according to Aboutlawsuits.com.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post has reported that a trial known as Study 15 was conducted in late 1990s, but its results were never disclosed to practicing physicians.
Instead, the drug gained an FDA approval, and has earned AstraZeneca nearly $12 billion in the past three years.
The findings have prompted some psychiatrists to chastise practitioners in the field as well as academics for allowing themselves to be influenced by the drug industry.
"The resources available for the care of our patients depend upon the public perception of the integrity of our profession," wrote the editor-in-chief and his colleagues in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry.
"The subsidy that each of us has been receiving is part of what has fueled the excesses that are currently under investigation," they added.
An AstraZeneca spokesman defended the company saying it has disclosed the drug’s risks on its labels, and its attorneys have argued the reports submitted by medical experts are scientifically and legally insufficient to justify the claims, as reported by Forbes.com.
However, the Washington Post says there is a growing expert consensus that newer antipsychotic drugs, which are 10 times as expensive, offer little advantage over older ones. 
Sign Petition To Stop Television Prescription Drug Ads
Published by Marlene B. on Mar 18, 2009
Category: Health
Region: GLOBAL
Target: U.S. Congress, FCC, FDA, European Commission, EMEA
Background (Preamble):
Statistics prove prescription drugs are 16,400% more deadly than terrorists. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 1998, a report finds that prescription drugs kill about 106,000 Americans each year – that’s three times as many as are killed by automobiles—making prescription drug death the fourth leading killer after heart disease, cancer and stroke.
Last year, the Journal of the American Medical Association puts death from all drugs, illegal and prescription, second only behind car accidents as a cause of death.
The rise in deaths coincides with the direct marketing of prescription medication to the public. Prescription drug sales have soared nearly 500 percent since 1990.
The pharmaceutical industry is a multi-trillion dollar business. Companies spend billions on advertising and promotions for prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies claim their drug ads are “educational” to the public. The public seems to genuinely believe that drugs advertised on TV are safe, in spite of the plethora of side effects listed. Many of these drugs have proven deadly.
Every day it’s estimated 2,500 teens abuse a prescription pain killer for the first time.
The White House Office of National Drug Control policy had been planning to unveil an ad campaign to target prescription drug abuse by teens. It is time to stop this form of advertising by the pharmaceutical companies.
Petition:
We, the undersigned, request that Congress, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), the European Commission, EMEA (European Medicines Agency) stop all television advertising of prescription drugs.
THE LAST TIME A CURE WAS FOUND FOR A DISEASE
WAS 1959. DR. JONAS SALK DEVELOPED THE VACCINE
FOR POLIO. HE WAS JUST ONE MAN.
SINCE THAT TIME, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
HAVE BEEN SPENT ON DISEASE. NOT FOR A CURE, BUT FOR
DRUG TREATMENT ONLY. A CURE WOULD PUT BIG
PHARMA OUT OF BIZ. IT SHOULD BE THE JOB OF A PHYSICIAN
TO PRESCRIBE THE BEST TREATMENTS TO A PATIENT, INSTEAD
OF PATIENTS ASKING DOCTORS TO PRESCRIBE THESE DRUGS.
BY ADVERTISING THESE DRUGS, THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES INVOLVE THEMSELVES IN A LEGAL DRUG TRADE THAT IS KILLING THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE EVERY DAY.
Dear Marlene,
Good call, Babe. The number is a whole lot bigger than that. Try to fit this one in your brain: 783,000 plus – conservatively. Find this author and his study: “Death by Medicine”; Gary Null, PhD, et al. 2004 at http://www.lef.org under their ARCHIVES section at the bottom of the site map. “lef” is for Life Extension Foundation, one of the oldest and most reputable health organizations you’ll find. Join and benefit.
You’ll become impressed and amazed at how powerful and healthful new metabolic and nutrition (trustworthy) information makes you and those you love. I did and it has saved me more than I ever spent. At 65 years old, taking no meds and seldom ill at all anymore, I’m grateful.
God bless, Mike
http://www.gopetition.com/online/26241
Now that cigarettes are no longer advertising on TV and alcohol advertising is next to nil; how do you think TV stations get their revenue? Drug advertising. By keeping the public “drugged up” we have managed to fall far below average in our outlook on most social and economic issues. I personally think our recent govenment officials do not want to “clean-up” the drug trade and turn a blind eye to pharmaceutical companies (who are heavy contributers to their election and re-election compaigns). While the average drug user is concerned with his or her next fix rather than the decinagration of the American way of life, as it was originally meant to be, it serves the politiacians and those enjoying our inablitiy to recognize the demise of the “American Way Life” just fine.