Over the years I have found the ability of the Atlantic to have dulling effect on the sensibilities of doctors and the media remarkable. It’s a phenomenon that only affects prescription drugs.While we in the UK eagerly follow every twist and turn in American cultural life, illegal pharmaceutical activities that may have serious implications for […]
Why hounding homeopaths is both batty and arrogant.
June 27, 2013 by
There is no shortage of villains in the world. Psychopaths – domestic and national – whalers, toxic waste dumpers, global eavesdroppers, billionaire tax avoiders and their army of accountants – all well worth campaigning against with the aim of getting them banged up or forced to cough up. There is also an infinite supply of […]
What is wrong with randomised trials Part 2
May 5, 2013 by 4 Comments
Could alcohol get a licence as a drug for depression? How do you test for the safety of a drug that causes the same side effects as the disease it is used to treat? These are just two of the points I didn’t have room for in my post last week on randomised controlled trials (RCTs) […]
Pharmageddon: how distortion and cover up happens
April 25, 2012 by 5 Comments
The most detailed and passionate statement of what has gone wrong with evidence based medicine and how it is damaging patients can be found in a new book called Pharmageddon by psychiatrist and campaigner Professor David Healy (published by the University of California Press, £27.95). I wrote a summary of the book with David Healy, […]
Prescribing off label – common and unscientific
April 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Two recent reports have just peered into a murky corner of evidence based medicine and found illegal doings and a distinct lack of evidence Over 11% of the prescriptions handed out in Canada were done off-label, according to a study published yesterday What this means that there weren’t clinical trials backing up their use for that condition. […]
Article: Watchdog ignored drugs risks for years
July 7, 2008 by Leave a Comment
This article was published in the Daily Mail on 7th July 2008. [Daily Mail Permalink] It’s about how drug companies regularly conceal evidence of drug dangers and how the drug watch dog – the MHRA – seems unable to take any effective steps to regulate this behaviour. Drugs involved include heavyweight tranquillisers called antipsychotics, SSRI antidepressants the anti-inflammatory Vioxx and […]
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