A lead investigator of the New York University (N.Y.U.) has been dismissed and eight clinical studies on the effects of a mind-altering cannabis-like drug for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were quietly brought to an end after the discovery of numerous protocol violations.
According to a report by The New York Times, federal investigators found that the researchers falsified records, kept inaccurate case histories, and failed to oversee study participants properly. Many of the volunteers struggled with severe mental issues and were abandoned to their fate after they were given the experimental drug.
“I think their intent was good, and they were considerate to me,” said one of those subjects, Diane Ruffcorn, 40, of Seattle, who said she was sexually abused as a child. “But what concerned me, I was given this drug, and all these tests, and then it was goodbye, I was on my own. There was no follow-up.”
Pfizer
Pfizer Vice President Blows The Whistle & Tells The Truth About The Pharmaceutical Industry
– Pfizer Vice President Blows The Whistle & Tells The Truth About The Pharmaceutical Industry (Collective Evolution, July 7, 2015):
Below is a clip taken from the “One More Girl” documentary, a film regarding the Gardasil vaccine, which was designed to prevent Human Papillomavirus. In it, Dr. Peter Rost, MD, a former vice president of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world (Pfizer), shares the truth about the ties between the medical and pharmaceutical industry.
Rost is a former vice president of Pfizer, and a whistleblower of the entire pharmaceutical industry in general. He is the author of “The Whistleblower, Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman.” Considering his work experience, it would be an understatement to say that he is an insider expert on big pharma marketing.
Read morePfizer Vice President Blows The Whistle & Tells The Truth About The Pharmaceutical Industry
NEUROSCIENTIST DR. CHRIS SHAW: ALUMINUM IN THE BODY (VIDEO)
May 2, 2013
Description:
Dr. Christopher Shaw is a neuroscientist at University of British Columbia and has been focusing his research on neurotoxicity of aluminum and ALS-parkinsonism dementia complex. Aluminum adjuvants are found in many vaccines, including Gardasil.
LEADING GARDASIL AND CERVARIX RESEARCHER DR. DIANE HARPER: HPV PROGRESSION (VIDEO)
May 2, 2013
Description:
Dr. Diane Harper was a lead researcher in Merck’s Gardasil clinical trials. Also a practicing OB/GYN, she has a unique and invaluable perspective on the efficacy, safety, and social issues of HPV vaccines.
Related info:
– Lead Gardasil Developer Clears Conscience, Admits Vaccine Is Useless And Deadly
– Dr. Diane Harper, Leading Gardasil and Cervarix HPV Vaccine Researcher, Drops A Bombshell
DR. LUCIJA TOMLIJENOVIC: GARDASIL AND CERVARIX ADVERSE REACTION STUDIES (VIDEO)
May 2, 2013
Description:
Dr. Lucija Tomlijenovic has been researching with Dr. Christopher Shaw on neurotoxicity of aluminum in the body and has published many papers on the efficacy and safety of HPV vaccines.
Japan: Four Infants Die Shortly After Receiving Pfizer, Sanofi Vaccines
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s health ministry has halted the use of vaccines made by Pfizer Inc and Sanofi-Aventis SA to prevent meningitis and pneumonia following the deaths of four children.
The infants died shortly after receiving the vaccines and while it was unclear if there was link between the deaths and vaccines, use of Pfizer’s Prevenar and Sanofi’s ActHIB will be suspended while the deaths are investigated, the ministry said in a statement.
A ministry safety panel is scheduled to discuss findings in the investigations on Tuesday.
In February last year health authorities in the Netherlands said no relation was found between Prevenar and the deaths of three infants who had received the vaccine.
Three of the children that died in Japan were administered Prevenar together with ActHIB. In addition, three of the children also received a mixed vaccine against diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus on the same day they received the other vaccines.
Read moreJapan: Four Infants Die Shortly After Receiving Pfizer, Sanofi Vaccines
US Supreme Court Shields Vaccine Makers From Lawsuits
Flashback:
– Now Legal Immunity for Swine flu Vaccine Makers (Global Research):
The US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, has just signed a decree granting vaccine makers total legal immunity from any lawsuits that result from any new ?Swine Flu? vaccine. Moreover, the $7 billion US Government fast-track program to rush vaccines onto the market in time for the Autumn flu season is being done without even normal safety testing.
The US Supreme Court also trashed the constitution, which is now officially dead:
– US Supreme Court Landmark Decision: The Constitution is VOID
And now the US Supreme Court shields Big Pharma.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Supreme Court ruled that federal law shields vaccine makers from product-liability lawsuits in state court seeking damages for a child’s injuries or death from a vaccine’s side effects.
The high court on Tuesday ruled for Wyeth, which is now owned by Pfizer Inc, in a lawsuit brought by the parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, who suffered seizures as an infant after her third dose of a diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine in 1992.
Pfizer and other vaccine makers had argued that a Supreme Court ruling for the plaintiffs could open the door to a flood of lawsuits — many by families who believe vaccines cause autism — and threaten the supply of childhood vaccines.
Pfizer Executive Vice President and General Counsel Amy Schulman said the company was pleased with the ruling.
“The Vaccine Act that Congress enacted nearly 25 years ago appropriately places the responsibility for determining the optimal design of life-saving childhood vaccines in the hands of expert federal agencies, not a patchwork of state tort systems,” she said.
Read moreUS Supreme Court Shields Vaccine Makers From Lawsuits
Report: Drug Companies Pay More Than 17,000 US Doctors For Drug Marketing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – More than 17,000 doctors and other healthcare providers have taken money from seven major drug companies to talk to other doctors about their products, a joint investigation by news organizations and non-profit groups found.
More than 380 of the doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other professionals took in more than $100,000 in 2009 and 2010, according to the investigation released on Tuesday. The report said far more doctors are likely to have taken such payments, but it documented these based on information from seven drugmakers.
The payments are not illegal and usually not even considered improper. But the investigation by journalism group ProPublica, Consumer Reports magazine, NPR radio and several publications showed doctors were sometimes urged to recommend “off-label” prescriptions of drugs, meaning using them for conditions they are not approved for.
And the report points to several studies showing that even small gifts and payments to doctors can affect their attitudes, and many companies have stopped giving out once-common gifts such as pens, cups and other objects carrying drug brand names.
“Tens of thousands of U.S. physicians are paid to spread the word about pharma’s favored pills and to advise the companies about research and marketing,” the group says in its report, available here
The groups used information from seven drugmakers — AstraZeneca, Cephalon, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Merck and Pfizer.
“Some of the companies were forced to disclose this information as a result of legal settlements; others released it voluntarily,” Consumer Reports said.
It said more than 70 other pharmaceutical companies have not disclosed payments made to doctors, although the healthcare reform law passed in March will require them to do so by 2013.
“This investigation begins to pull back the shroud on these activities,” Dr. John Santa, director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, said in a statement.
“The amount of money involved is astounding, and the ProPublica report’s account of the background of some of the physicians is disturbing.”
Read moreReport: Drug Companies Pay More Than 17,000 US Doctors For Drug Marketing
Pfizer ordered to pay up over ‘AIDS-like’ virus infections
In what is being hailed as a major victory for workers in the biotech and nanotech fields, a former scientist with pharmaceutical firm Pfizer has been awarded $1.37 million for being fired after raising the alarm over researchers being infected with a genetically engineered “AIDS-like” virus.
Becky McClain, a molecular biologist from Deep River, Connecticut, filed a lawsuit against Pfizer in 2007, claiming she had been wrongly terminated for complaining about faulty safety equipment that allowed a “dangerous lentivirus” to infect her and some of her colleagues.
The Hartford Courant describes the virus as “similar to the one that can lead to acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS.” Health experts testified that the virus has affected the way McClain’s body processes potassium, which they say causes McClain to suffer complete paralysis as often as a dozen times per month, the Courant reports.
McClain’s lawsuit (PDF) asserted that Pfizer had interfered with her right to free speech, and that she should have been protected from retaliation by whistleblower legislation.
Read morePfizer ordered to pay up over ‘AIDS-like’ virus infections
Big Pharma researcher Dr. Reuben admits to faking dozens of research studies for Pfizer, Merck
Dr. Scott Reuben
(NaturalNews) It’s being called the largest research fraud in medical history. Dr. Scott Reuben, a former member of Pfizer’s speakers’ bureau, has agreed to plead guilty to faking dozens of research studies that were published in medical journals.
Now being reported across the mainstream media is the fact that Dr. Reuben accepted a $75,000 grant from Pfizer to study Celebrex in 2005. His research, which was published in a medical journal, has since been quoted by hundreds of other doctors and researchers as “proof” that Celebrex helped reduce pain during post-surgical recovery. There’s only one problem with all this: No patients were ever enrolled in the study!
Dr. Scott Reuben, it turns out, faked the entire study and got it published anyway.
It wasn’t the first study faked by Dr. Reuben: He also faked study data on Bextra and Vioxx drugs, reports the Wall Street Journal.
As a result of Dr. Reuben’s faked studies, the peer-reviewed medical journal Anesthesia & Analgesia was forced to retract 10 “scientific” papers authored by Reuben. The Day of London reports that 21 articles written by Dr. Reuben that appear in medical journals have apparently been fabricated, too, and must be retracted.
After being caught fabricating research for Big Pharma, Dr. Reuben has reportedly signed a plea agreement that will require him to return $420,000 that he received from drug companies. He also faces up to a 10-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.
He was also fired from his job at the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. after an internal audit there found that Dr. Reuben had been faking research data for 13 years. (http://www.theday.com/article/20100…)
Business as usual in Big Pharma
What’s notable about this story is not the fact that a medical researcher faked clinical trials for the pharmaceutical industry. It’s not the fact that so-called “scientific” medical journals published his fabricated studies. It’s not even the fact that the drug companies paid this quack close to half a million dollars while he kept on pumping out fabricated research.
The real story here is that this is business as usual in the pharmaceutical industry.
Dr. Reuben’s actions really aren’t that extraordinary. Drug companies bribe researchers and doctors as a routine matter. Medical journals routinely publish false, fraudulent studies. FDA panel members regularly rely on falsified research in making their drug approval decisions, and the mainstream media regularly quotes falsified research in reporting the news.
Fraudulent research, in other words, is widespread in modern medicine. The pharmaceutical industry couldn’t operate without it, actually. It is falsified research that gives the industry its best marketing claims and strongest FDA approvals. Quacks like Dr Scott Reuben are an important part of the pharmaceutical profit machine because without falsified research, bribery and corruption, the industry would have very little research at all.
3 Dutch babies die after pneumococcal vaccine, Dutch authorities pull Pfizer’s Prevenar batch
Vaccine use halted after baby deaths
The Dutch health institute RIVM has stopped the distribution of a batch of Pfizer’s Prevnar childhood vaccine following the death of three babies shortly after being vaccinated.
The vaccine has been labeled ‘do not use’ and and new supplies have been made available to doctors.
The exact cause of the death of the infants is not yet known, the RIVM said. The babies died between one and 11 days after the vaccination.
US Pharmaceutical Factories Dumping Huge Quantities of Drugs Into Public Sewers, Rivers and Waterways
(NaturalNews) In spite of claims by pharmaceutical companies that they do not discharge their products into the water supply, federal researchers have discovered that waters downstream of pharmaceutical plants are more heavily contaminated with drug residue than waters elsewhere in the country.
In one study, conducted by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), researchers tested the water entering two water treatment plants down the sewer line of several pharmaceutical factories, as well as at other plants not receiving sewage from drug plants. Researchers discovered drugs at “much higher detection frequencies and concentrations” at the plants receiving effluent from pharmaceutical factories. Drugs detected included opiates, a barbiturate and a tranquilizer.
In a second study, researchers from the Environmental Protection Agency tested the water entering a wastewater treatment plant in the city of Kalamazoo, Mich., down the sewage line from a Pfizer drug factory. They found that the water entering the plant was exceptionally high in levels of the antibiotic lincomycin, which the factory was producing at that time.
“There’s some product going down the drain,” said Bruce Merchant, the city’s public services director.
Prior studies have shown that lincomycin can cause genetic mutations, and that it encourages the growth of cancer cells when combined with minute concentrations of a number of other drugs that are common in surface water.
Pfizer Agrees to a Record $2.3 Billion Criminal Fine in Fraud Probe
Pfizer’s general counsel said: “We regret certain actions taken in the past, but are proud of the action we’ve taken to strengthen our internal controls.” Source: BBC News
The only thing Big Pharma ‘regrets’ is getting caught.
Illegally promoting drugs for conditions that had not been approved by regulators is common practice in the pharmaceutical industry.
Related articles:
– Pfizer whistleblower’s ordeal reaps big rewards
– Nigeria Issues Arrest Warrants for Top Pfizer Officials After Drug Experiments Conducted on Children
Pfizer Inc. drugs, from right, the pain pill Lyrica, antibiotic Zyvox, and schizophrenia treatment Geodon are arranged for a photo at C.O. Bigelow Pharmacy in New York on Sep. 2, 2009. Photographer: JB Reed/Bloomberg
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) — Pfizer Inc. agreed to a $1.2 billion criminal fine, the largest in U.S. history, and a felony plea by a subsidiary to close an investigation into what government lawyers described as fraudulent marketing of drugs.
The fine, over sales practices for a painkiller since pulled from the market, makes up the biggest single share of a record $2.3 billion settlement, announced today, between the U.S. Justice Department and New York-based Pfizer. The deal includes $1 billion in civil penalties, the largest non-criminal fraud case against a drugmaker, the department said.
Pfizer, the world’s largest drugmaker, entered into a five- year integrity agreement with the Health and Human Services Department as well. The government pays for medicines through several health programs and joined the investigation after private whistleblowers filed lawsuits in three states. The criminal case revolved around allegations that the painkiller Bextra and three other medicines were promoted for uses other than those approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
Read morePfizer Agrees to a Record $2.3 Billion Criminal Fine in Fraud Probe
A New Low in Drug Research: 21 Fabricated Studies
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We’ve followed plenty of controversies around drug trials, from ghostwriting to keeping quiet about unflattering results. But the latest news is particularly eye-popping: A prominent Massachusetts anesthesiologist allegedly fabricated 21 medical studies involving major drugs. Yikes.
Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass., has asked several anesthesiology journals to retract the studies, which appeared between 1996 and 2008, the WSJ reports. The hospital says its former chief of acute pain, Scott S. Reuben, faked data used in the studies.
Some of the studies reported favorable results from use of Pfizer’s Bextra and Merck’s Vioxx, both painkillers that have since been pulled from the market. Others offered good news about Pfizer’s pain drugs Lyrica and Celebrex and Wyeth’s antidepressant Effexor XR. Doctors said Reuben’s work was particularly influential in pain treatment and that they were shocked by the news.
“We are left with a large hole in our understanding of this field,” Steven Shafer, editor-in-chief of Anesthesia and Analgesia, told Anesthesiology News, which first reported on the retractions. “There are substantial tendrils from this body of work that reach throughout the discipline of postoperative pain management.”
Pfizer had funded some of Reuben’s research and had also paid him to speak on behalf of its medicines. “It is very disappointing to learn about Dr. Scott Reuben’s alleged actions,” Pfizer said in a statement to WSJ. “When we decided to support Dr. Reuben’s research, he worked for a credible academic medical center and appeared to be a reputable investigator.”
Caterpillar, Sprint, Pfizer slash at least 72,500 jobs
Paul King, mine manager, inspects a Caterpillar Inc. haul truck at the Australian Bulk Minerals iron ore mine at Savage River in Tasmania, Australia, on Nov. 6, 2008. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg News
Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — Caterpillar Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Home Depot Inc. led companies today announcing at least 72,500 job cuts as sales withered and construction slowed amid a global economic recession that may persist through 2009.
The biggest layoffs were at Peoria, Illinois-based Caterpillar. The world’s largest maker of construction equipment said it’s cutting 20,000 jobs after fourth-quarter profit fell by almost a third.
Pfizer Inc., the New York-based drugmaker that’s acquiring competitor Wyeth for $68 billion, said it will close five factories and eliminate 19,000 jobs, or 15 percent, of the combined company’s workforce.
The firings came as American jobless claims hit a 26-year high, reaching 589,000 in the week ended Jan. 17, as shrinking demand for products and services forced companies to lower costs.
Read moreCaterpillar, Sprint, Pfizer slash at least 72,500 jobs
Global Economic Crisis Accelerating
– UK jobless rise of 40000 in a week just ‘tip of the iceberg’ (Telegraph)
– Schwarzenegger Says Deficit has ‘Incapacitated’ State (Bloomberg):
Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) — Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said California has been so “incapacitated” by a fiscal crisis that threatens to leave it unable to pay bills within weeks that the only issue he and lawmakers must consider is how to fix it.
– Charter misses $74 mln in debt interest payments (Reuters):
NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) – Charter Communications, the fourth largest U.S. cable operator, said on Thursday it missed interest payments of $73.7 million as it continues to negotiate a debt restructuring with bondholders.
The company said it has until Feb. 15 to make the payment and avoid default, which could push it into bankruptcy.
– ECB cuts rates by 50 points to 2% (Financial Times):
Eurozone interest rates fell by half a percentage point to their lowest in more than three years on Thursday as the European Central Bank said that it expected the recession to deepen and signalled that borrowing costs could fall further.
Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB president, warned that growth forecasts published only last month would have to be revised downwards in a sign of the ferocity of the downturn.
– Pfizer May Fire 2,400, One-Third of U.S. Sales Force (Bloomberg):
Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) — Pfizer Inc., the world’s biggest drugmaker, may fire almost a third of its U.S. sales force, or as many as 2,400 workers, in a plan under consideration by senior management, people familiar with the discussions said.h the discussions said.
– JPMorgan chief says 2009 will be bleak (Financial Times):
The US financial and economic crisis will worsen this year as hard-hit consumers default on credit cards and other loans, Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, has predicted in an interview with the Financial Times.
– JPMorgan Profit Drops 76 Percent on Asset Writedowns (Bloomberg)
– Yet another blow to the US newspaper industry (Guardian)
– Aircraft industry shocked by view from ground (Financial Times)
– Airbus forecasts ‘very challenging’ year (Financial Times):
Airbus on Thursday said its new commercial aircraft orders had fallen sharply last year, as the European aerospace group forecast “a very challenging year” for the industry in 2009. Net new orders fell by 42 per cent last year to 777, from a record 1,341 won in 2007.
– Irish government fears IMF intervention (Guardian)
– Ireland plans drastic cuts to prevent debt crisis (Telegraph):
Ireland is to demand pay cuts for civil servants and public employees to prevent the budget deficit soaring to 12pc of gross domestic product by next year – becoming the first country in the eurozone to resort to 1930s-style wage deflation to claw back competitiveness.
– If anyone doubted scale of crisis, work even halts in Dubai on world’s tallest tower (Scotsman)
– Hedge funds ‘encourage bankruptcies’ for profit (Guardian)
– Spain’s Debt Costs Rise at Bond Sale After S&P Alert (Bloomberg)
– Banks gird for commercial property collapse (FinancialWeek):
Some of the biggest financial institutions have huge, potentially troublesome commercial real estate stakes, Standard & Poors data shows. Based on information in their most recent financial reports, Citigroup and Barclays each had more than $20 billion worth of commercial mortgage-related investments. Merrill Lynch, acquired by Bank of America last year, had some $19.7 billion in such investments, according to S&P.
Nigeria Issues Arrest Warrants for Top Pfizer Officials After Drug Experiments Conducted on Children
(NaturalNews) A Nigerian state judge has issued arrest warrants for three top Pfizer officials, saying that they failed to appear in court to face charges of illegally conducting drug trials that led to the deaths of 11 children.