Posted by jane d on September 17, 2002, at 20:59:46
I just finished reading "Dispensing with the Truth" by Alicia Mundy. It is a truly scary book and one I strongly recommend to anyone who, like me, probably must take medications and also to all of you who've posted here advocating the further weakening of the FDA. It describes how the company, Wyeth Ayerst deliberately buried reports of fatalities so they wouldn't lose sales. It also describes journal articles written and paid for by the company (favorable of course), company officials pressuring the FDA to approve an unsafe drug which the FDA knowingly did (comforting thought), and probable illegal promotion by the company of off label use. Best of all there seemed to be an entire company full of people who believed that the companies profit was more important than the lives of it's customers. Makes you wonder what company these folks are working for now.
A couple of reviews that describe the book better than I can:
http://archive.salon.com/tech/books/2001/05/16/fen_phen_review/
poster:jane d
thread:120194
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020914/msgs/120194.html