Bad Medicine

We have not been properly protected against bad medicines. The regulator the MHRA failed to do their job.

An article in the BMJ today concludes that

" The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s announcement, in March 2008, that GlaxoSmithKline would not face prosecution for deliberately withholding trial data, which revealed not only that Seroxat was ineffective at treating childhood depression but also that it increased the risk of suicidal behaviour in this patient group. The decision not to prosecute followed a four and a half year investigation and was taken on the grounds that the law at the relevant time was insufficiently clear."

The pharmaceutical industry has achieved miracles in disease control and elimination in the past century. GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of Seroxat, has been exposed as duplicitous, profit-driven and irresponsible over the 20 years that the drug has been available. It prizes its profits above the health of its customers.

Where there should have been scientific objectivity there has been voodoo medicine; patients who have sought care have had their trust abused. Seroxat has turned mild stress in to suicidal despair, and in many cases a passing anxiety has become a lifelong addiction, leading to self-harm, suicide and even murder. Those who have long questioned the safety and efficacy of Seroxat were ridiculed and undermined by the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.

That company is the villain in those tragedies, but happily there are heroes—those who fought to expose the truth about the dangers, addictiveness and ineffectiveness of Seroxat. The heroes include Dr. David Healy, professor of psychiatry at the university of Wales, Bangor, the "Panorama" programme, which produced two splendid accounts about the effects of the drug, Sarah Boseley of the Guardian, the charity Mind, one of the few charities that takes no money from the pharmaceutical industry—a significant point in this case.

The company has expressed the view that antidepressants should be taken by half the female population of the United Kingdom and a third of the male population; it wants to see 25 million people on antidepressant drugs.

The charge against GlaxoSmithKline could not be graver: it has deliberately suppressed information on the danger of Seroxat and its lack of utility. Two years ago, GlaxoSmithKline wrote me a letter that contains very little that is truthful apart from the date. We know that its spokesmen made preposterous claims on "Panorama", and the letter states:

"The safety and efficacy profiles of Seroxat has been confirmed through clinical trials involving thousands of individuals and the experience of tens of millions of patients over the 10 years the medicine has been available."

The letter does not mention the number of reports that GlaxoSmithKline has disregarded, ignored or, as happened recently, actually suppressed. The BMJ article confirms the worries that were expressed as long ago as 2003. The MHRA is still funded by the pharmaceutical industry and is heavily biaised in favour of new drugs. This shameful episode cries out for a regulatory body that is independent of the greed-motivated Big Pharmas.

 

Judge judged

The full text is now available on the row that was described as ‘uproar’ by Shadow Leader of the House Alan Duncan. Charles Walker had persistently said that a judge was not a fit to person to  decide who was to blame for the Equitable Life losses.

Next day Alan Duncan asked in the Commons Chamber: “May we have a statement from the Chancellor on the extraordinary behaviour in front of the Public Administration Committee yesterday of the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, the hon. Member for Dudley, South (Ian Pearson)? His derogatory remarks to a member of that Select Committee, and his comments on Equitable Life, caused uproar.”

This is how it went:
Ian Pearson: (pic Left)  I think that is an uncharitable and unworthy comment to suggest that for somebody to be honest ---
Mr Walker: (pic below)  That is not a good enough response, Minister; it is in the Code of Conduct.  It is not uncharitable; it is in the legal Code of Conduct about how judges and former judges should behave.
Mr Walker:  I am not in any way being disparaging; I am sure he is absolutely excellently qualified in all kinds of ways, but there is that issue which has been raised not just by me but by distinguished judges in the past.
Ian Pearson:  Firstly, Charles, I think you are being pathetic and I think we could do with a little bit less of the schoolboy behaviour and more of looking at these seriously.
 Mr Walker:  Minister, you are a Minister of the Crown and you are really ---
Ian Pearson:  And you are a Member of Parliament and you ought to act like one.
 Mr Walker:  … diminishing your position right now.
Ian Pearson:  You are diminishing your role as a Member of Parliament.
Mr Walker:  And you are coming out of this far worse than I am.
Chairman:  Order!  Could I say to both of you that we have limited time – at most we have about seven minutes left and we do not want to waste it on this kind of stuff.
 Paul Flynn:  Do you think a retired judge would attract more public trust than, say, a retired banker, a retired estate agent or a retired MP?
Ian Pearson:  It is a good point.  Sir John is a person of enormous experience and integrity and I think that people can feel confident that he will approach his task in an independent and objective manner.

Fuel cash unclaimed

Many men are losing out on the Winter Fuel Payments because they believe the entitlement starts at the pension age 65. It does not. Men can claim them at 60. It’s not too late to claim for the current one. Most people over the age of 60 are eligible for Winter Fuel Payments to help with the cost of keeping warm.

This year the Winter Fuel Payments are £250 for households with someone aged 60 to 79 and £400 for households with someone aged 80 or over.

If you're 60 or over and getting a state pension or other benefit (excluding Housing Benefit, Council Tax benefit or Child Benefit) then this money will come to you automatically. However many people who are still working and not yet receiving state pension may be missing out on the Winter Fuel payment, particularly men between 60-65.

You may qualify for a Winter Fuel Payment for the winter of 2008/09 if:

            You are aged 60 or over on or before 21st September 2008; and

            You normally live in the UK on any day in the week of 15-21 September 2008

To apply for the Winter Fuel Payment please call 08459 151 515.   The deadline for 2008/9 payment is the 30th March 2009.

Comments

[Shop Hermes Kelly]

He is a good friend that speaks well of us behind our backs.

[WEL]

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[Paul Flynn]

Here! Here! John. I agree with every word.
In our inquiry on lobbying, I came across one lobbyist who boated that his firm had trained Big Pharma to give evidence before a Select Committee. He claimed to have anticipated all the questions.

Another tentacle in addition to all the other tentacles that are pulling on the levers of influence and power.

[John]

The activities of the pharmaceuticals is as outrageous as the activities of the bankers over the last few years. Greed is at the root of it all. The huge profits made and the tentacles that reach into the political system are corrupting tot he highest degree. It seems profit is more important than the well being of those they presume to serve and the number of snouts in that particular trough seem to be legion.
We need a huge overhaul of the regulatory system governing the pharma's. Also just as we as individuals took out credit we didn't actually need or could afford to pay back we need to also take responsibility for the pills we pop. Too often we take the the overworked doctors pill pushing as a mirialce cure for our ills when a pill is probably the last thing we need and actually makes our condition worse.
I personnally haven't taken anything not even an aspirin for any of my aches and pains or worries for longer than I can remember. Good wholesome food, exercise and a supportive family/social network is far more affective than these pills that everyone pops without a second thought.
Medication is for those who are serioulsy ill to think that one can pop a pill to cure the natural anxieties of our daily life is absurd. I see in one paper yesterday that there is even a pill to take away your unpleasent memories.But what will it leave you with god only knows