3/13/2001 – March Edition of drugawareness.org now online.

The March edition of the ICFDA www.drugawareness.org site is
now on line. So much has been happening lately, that’s it’s been
difficult to keep up with all the news. But, please take a look
when you can. There are just a sampling of some very important
stories that are posted there.
——-
1/22/01 Doctors and Patients Don’t Talk About Antidepressant
Side Effects
By Carla Cantor, CBS HEALTH WATCH

A new public health survey reveals that nearly half of the people
being treated with antidepressants experience side effects and
55% of those patients stop taking their medication, rather than
talk to their doctors about the issue.

2/19/01 Prescriptions: How your doctor makes the choice
By Joseph P. Shapiro and Stacey Schultz [US NEWS]

Three years ago, doctors at the Everett Clinic in Washington
State took a hard look at the stream of pharmaceutical sales
reps filing into their offices. “Enough!” they said. Then they
closed their doors on the cheery “detailers” who vied for their
attention each day, lugging suitcases of free drug samples.
Medical director Al Fisk, who masterminded the move,
suspected that the samples were skewing his doctors’ drug
choices toward the most heavily promoted drugs–even when
less expensive ones were just as effective. “There’s a reason
why the pharmaceutical business spends [billions] on physician
detailing,” he says. “It’s easy to influence prescribing habits.”

2/24/01 Drug Firms Treat PMS As a Mental Disorder
By TARA PARKER-POPE, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, As
appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Section B, Front Page

IS SEVERE PMS, or premenstrual syndrome, a mental illness?
Some pharmaceutical companies and psychiatrists are treating
it as one. In new television ads, drug maker Eli Lilly is promoting
the drug Sarafem to treat the problem, now dubbed
Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD). But the pink and
purple pills aren’t a new drug — they are simply repackaged
Prozac, the popular antidepressant.

3/11/01 Paper: Co. Knew of Drug-Liver Link

Warner-Lambert Co. downplayed liver damage concerns as it
sought federal approval for its diabetes drug Rezulin, the Los
Angeles Times reported Sunday.

2/24/01 Paxil Lawsuit

This is our 2nd update (“sitrep” or “situation report”) in our Paxil
withdrawal lawsuit (“Nguyen & Farber v SmithKline Beecham
Corporation”). We filed the case August 18, 2000 against
SmithKline (now “GlaxoSmithKline) in Superior Court, Santa
Clara County, San Jose, California.

2/19/01 Urgent Phenylpropanolamine Recall

Read more about the FDA warning about drugs containing the
ingredient Phenylpropanolamine found in many common over
the counter medications.

3/3/01 US Congressman Dan Burton Requests Immediate
Vaccine Recall

3/5/01 Use of Painkiller Grows Quickly, Along With Widespread
Abuse, By BARRY MEIER and MELODY PETERSEN THE NEW
YORK TIMES

…when the salesman suggested that OxyContin (which is as
potent as morphine) was safe enough to treat short-term pain,
Dr. Leong exploded. “We threw him out of my office,” said Dr.
Leong.

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