BBC PANORAMA TONIGHT - Taken on Trust- 13 years-Medical Deception

[Guest guest]

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)

Promoting openness and full disclosure

http://www.ahrp.org <http://www.ahrp.org/>

 

FYI

 

BBC-Panorama is airing its third in a series of investigative reports

about the betrayal of trust in psychiatry, drug manufacturers and

government regulators.

The first program, The Secret of Seroxat, aired October 13, 2002,

revealed in case after case, that Paxil / Seroxat caused severe

adverse drug reactions--including previously unreported suicides.

 

Public response to the program--and the thousands of people who

reported their horrific experience on the drug, forced the British

Medicine authority to convene an expert panel to examine the data.

However, revelations of the panelists' conflicts of interest forced

the agency to disband the first panel and convene a second panel.

 

When confronted with the previously concealed evidence of

harm--particularly harm to children and adolescents for whom the drugs

had not shown a benefit in clinical trials--led the British to

prohibit the use of antidepressants for children, except Prozac.

 

This exception is inconsistent with Eli Lilly's UK Prozac label which

specifically notes:

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN.

 

The action taken by UK regulators who were under pressure from the

public, led the FDA to analyze the pediatric clinical trial data that

the agency had ignored for years.

 

Tonight's program focuses on the collusion between UK government

regulators and GlaxoSmithKline.

 

Dr Mike Shooter, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said

of the Seroxat issue: " It has serious implications for the whole of

psychiatry, it has serious implications for the whole of medicine. "

 

" I think a few years down the line we are going to be talking about

this with many more sorts of medication. "

 

Indeed, Merck's belated withdrawal of Vioxx from the market is yet

another example of the regulatory system's failure to protect the public.

 

But, as Panorama will show, the regulatory system is made up of

officials, and those officials have been complicit in concealing the

truth. They should be held accountable for the lives lost because of

their failure to reveal the facts.

 

FDA officials have failed to protect the public from hazardous

drugs--including drugs that increase heart attacks, and drugs whose

adverse effects are so severe that some people are driven to commit

suicide.

FDA officials have lied under oath and they should be held

accountable. FDA officials have intervened in court to shield drug

manufacturers from being held accountable for concealing evidence of

harm, and making false advertising claims. They should be held

accountable.

 

 

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav

Tel: 212-595-8974

e-mail: veracare

 

 

 

 

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/pn/-/1/hi/programmes/panorama/3677792.stm>

SUNDAY OCTOBER 3 22:15 BST - BBC ONE

Taken on Trust

 

We take it on trust that the drugs our doctors prescribe are safe and

effective.

 

But this special investigation exposes huge failings in the system of

medicines regulation that is supposed to monitor drug safety.

 

It reveals how patients' lives have been put at risk as a result.

 

For the last two years, Panorama has been investigating claims that

Seroxat can cause addiction, self-harm, aggression and even suicide.

 

The medicines regulator always denied there was evidence to back up

these claims.

 

But now the programme reveals that, not only is the evidence there,

it's been lying dormant in the regulator's archive for at least 13 years.

 

One insider tells the programme: " I have little confidence that the

drugs they're licensing day by day are being licensed in a way that I

would feel appropriate and - I have very little confidence in drugs

that have been regulated in the past. "

 

Some of the most influential names in medicine are now asking if we're

being told the truth about the pills that we take.

 

Dr Mike Shooter, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said

of the Seroxat issue: " It has serious implications for the whole of

psychiatry, it has serious implications for the whole of medicine. "

 

" I think a few years down the line we are going to be talking about

this with many more sorts of medication. "

 

Forty years after the thalidomide tragedy prompted the setting up of

drug safety monitoring, the regulator is accused of letting down the

patients it's supposed to be there to protect.

 

Tune in on Sunday to find out more.

 

bbc.co.uk/panorama

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/pn/-/1/hi/programmes/panorama/default.stm>