Health

Drug Industry Front Scares Seniors With Radio Ads

by Laura Miller — July 15, 2003 - 10:00pm

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has condemned a radio scare campaign sponsored by the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. "In a bid to defeat legislation that would allow the 'reimportation' of American-made drugs from Canada and Europe, a lobby group calling itself the Seniors Coalition is questioning the safety of Canadian and European prescription drugs," the Toronto Star reports. Reimported drugs are cheaper for seniors to buy. The legislation is part of the $400 billion, 10-year overhaul of the Medicare.

Main Source: 
Toronto Star, July 16, 2003

Cure for the Common Cold

by Sheldon Rampton — June 20, 2003 - 10:00pm

Clinical trials showed that ViroPharma's anti-cold drug, pleconaril, was little better than a placebo in clinical trials, but that didn't stop hundreds of newspapers from hyping it as a miracle cure. "It fell far short of what any rational person would call a cure," observes Gary Schwitzer. "Yet hundreds of journalists called pleconaril just that - and more - in hundreds of news stories before the drug was ever submitted to the FDA for approval. ... Journalists used an array of superlative terms for the drug -cure, miracle, wonder drug, super drug, a medical first.

Main Source: 
British Medical Journal, June 21, 2003

U.S. Drug Industry Steps Up Lobbying in Canada

by Laura Miller — June 8, 2003 - 10:00pm

"America's big drug companies are intensifying their lobbying efforts to 'change the Canadian health-care system' and eliminate subsidized prescription drug prices enjoyed by Canadians," CanWest News Service reports.

Main Source: 
CanWest News Service, June 9, 2003

Spun Doctors

by Sheldon Rampton — May 30, 2003 - 10:00pm

"Few doctors have heard of the world's leading medical public relations companies - Edelman, Ruder Finn, Noonan/Russo Presence, the Shire Health Group, and Medical Action Communications, among others," write Bob Burton and Andy Rowell in the British Medical Journal.

Main Source: 
British Medical Journal, May 31, 2003

Company Paid Doctors to Promote Drug

by John Stauber — May 29, 2003 - 10:00pm

"Documents released yesterday in the case of a drug company
whistle-blower shed light on how extensively doctors were
involved in promoting unapproved uses of a Warner-Lambert
drug, Neurontin. Warner-Lambert paid dozens of doctors tens of thousands of dollars each to speak to other physicians about how Neurontin, an epilepsy drug, could be prescribed for more
than a dozen other medical uses that had not been approved
by the Food and Drug Administration. The top speaker for
Neurontin, Dr. B. J.

Main Source: 
New York Times, May 30, 2003

HRT Maker's PR Activities Raise Concern

by Laura Miller — May 27, 2003 - 10:00pm

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a booklet put out by the Australasian Menopause Society that "suggested [hormone replacement therapy] could prevent heart disease, Alzheimer's and ageing skin, yet ... failed to mention the established side-effect of blood clots, or the accumulating evidence that the drugs were causing heart disease" was drafted by HRT manufacturer, Wyeth, and its PR firm, Hill & Knowlton. HRT's revenues for Wyeth are $3 billion a year.

Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, May 28, 2003

Networks Largely Ignore War's Long-Term Impact

by Laura Miller — May 5, 2003 - 10:00pm

"Media have been quick to declare the U.S. war against Iraq a success, but
in-depth investigative reporting about the war's likely health and
environmental consequences has been scarce," media watchdog Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting writes. "Two important issues getting
shortchanged in the press are the U.S.'s controversial use of cluster
bombs and depleted uranium weapons.

Main Source: 
FAIR, May 6, 2003

Ex-FDA Head David Kessler Now a PR Flack for F-H

by John Stauber — April 9, 2003 - 10:00pm

The Fleishman-Hillard PR firm has announced hiring former Food & Drug Administration head Dr. David A. Kessler. Under Kessler the FDA served the biotechnology industry by adopting an anti-consumer policy of not requiring safety testing or labeling of genetically engineered food.

Main Source: 
PR Newswire, April 10, 2003

Bayer's Headache

by Sheldon Rampton — March 6, 2003 - 11:00pm

A $100 million lawsuit against Bayer Corp. has yielded e-mails and internal documents that suggest the drug company let marketing and PR concerns trump safety, disregarding disturbing research on the cholesterol drug Baycol before it was pulled off the market because of dozens of deaths. "There have been some deaths related to Baycol. ... So much for keeping this quiet," said one E-mail.

Main Source: 
Associated Press, March 7, 2003

Hot Flash, Cold Cash

by Sheldon Rampton — March 3, 2003 - 7:40pm

"Last April, several hundred black-tie and couture-clad worthies crowded into the ornate ballroom of the Washington Ritz-Carlton for one more dinner on the spring charity circuit," writes Alicia Mundy - namely, the annual gala of the once-respected Society for Women's Health Research (SWHR), a Washington, DC-based nonprofit organization whose stated mission is "to improve the health of women through research." In recent years, however, SWHR has become increasingly dependent on corporation contributions from pharmaceutical companies.

Main Source: 
Washington Monthly, February/March 2003
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