Healthy Skepticism Library item: 7145

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Publication type: news

Conflicted Scientists to Sit on FDA Board Weighing Suicide Risk from Antidepressants
Ingegrity in Science 2006 Dec 11
http://www.cspinet.org/integrity/watch/200612112.html

Full text:

Conflicted Scientists to Sit on FDA Board Weighing Suicide Risk from Antidepressants

The Food and Drug Administration has issued three waivers for this week’s advisory committee meeting that will review data on adult suicide risk from antidepressants. Andrew Leon, professor of public health at Weill Medical School, Cornell, and a permanent member of the committee, received between $10,001 and $50,000 per year as a member of a data monitoring board for an “affected firm.” Leon has consulted for Cyberonics, makers of the Vagus Nerve Shock Therapy System which treats severe depression, and Cortex Pharmaceuticals, which makes a class of compounds used for Alzheimer’s and depression. In addition, Leon’s research has been sponsored by Forest Laboratories, which makes Celexa, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Bruce Pollock, from the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto, who will not be allowed to vote in on the issue, receives less than $10,001 per year sitting on the advisory board and speakers bureau for an antidepressant maker. Pollock also advises and speaks on behalf of Forest Labs, which makes the best-selling antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro; GlaxoSmithKline, maker of the antidepressant Paxil; and Pfizer, maker of Zoloft, a popular anti-depression drug. The third waiver was issued to Jean Bronstein, a retired nurse and consumer representative for the committee, who has stock valued from $5,001 to $100,000 in two affected drug firms.