After the settlements or fines for misbehavior by the drug companies, critics make the same two points. The fine was "too low" considering the profit margin [the "cost of business" argument] and "this won’t stop until they punish the people who did it". Those arguments might be gaining at least some traction with the escalating […]
I got diverted by the Olympics and cut short the last post. Such things happen. There was something else I wanted to say, but couldn’t think how to say it, so I threw in the towel for a bit. I liked the article, Psychiatry, The Pharmaceutical Industry, and The Road to Better Therapeutics, because it’s […]
The record amounts of the recent GSK settlement [Biggest Deal Ever: Glaxo Pays $3B For Bad Behavior] and the one pending for Johnson and Johnson [J&J Penalty May Total $2.2 Billion ] for false advertising may not satisfy those who point to the billions made from these drugs and the damage done. And the failure […]
Speaking of PTSD, I spent the day working in the clinic, but I had an apprehensive background feeling all day. When I got home, I realized why. It’s the Olympics and tonight was the opening ceremony. As 30 year olds, we were spending two weeks at the 1972 Munich games when disaster struck, and then […]
Judges Uphold Dismissal of Pennsylvania Risperdal Suit Against Johnson & Johnson Fox Business News by Peter Loftus July 26, 2012 A Pennsylvania appeals court handed a legal victory to Johnson & Johnson [JNJ] by upholding the dismissal of the state’s lawsuit accusing the drug maker of improperly marketing the antipsychotic drug Risperdal. The Commonwealth of […]
Will PTSD By Any Other Name Bring More Troops to Treatment? Psychiatric News by Aaron Levin July 6, 2012 While two generals and two psychiatrists disagree over diagnostic language, they do agree about the crucial need to get troops with posttraumatic stress disorder into care. The general wants to change one word. The psychiatrist wants […]
Much of what we know about traumatic mental illness comes from the military experience during wartime. But for as much as that teaches us, PTSD is hardly the only enduring consequence of military combat. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a situation more likely to have an impact on a person’s life as going to […]
In 1895, Stephen Crane published what would become the signature novel of the Civil War, The Red Badge of Courage, though he was born after the war and had no combat experience. In the novel, a young Union recruit became obsessed that he would "run" in battle, shaming himself as a coward. He made it […]
Since reviewing the study by Ball and Kiloh that validated the efficacy of Imipramine in 1959 [remembrance of things past…], I’ve had a nagging disquiet about our ways of determining the efficacy of psychoactive medications in general and the antidepressants in the specific. In that classic study, the 97 subjects were help-seeking patients and the […]
J&J Penalty May Total $2.2 Billion Settlement Over Risperdal Marketing Would Include $400 Million Criminal Fine Wall Street Journal BY JONATHAN D. ROCKOFF AND JOANN S. LUBLIN July 20, 2012 Johnson & Johnson and federal prosecutors have reached a deal that would settle investigations into the company’s marketing practices for as much as $2.2 billion, […]