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March 16, 2010
Reuben, Baystate, Pfizer
Exclusive: Fraud Postmortem
A research scandal at a Tufts facility shows that peer review cannot identify scientific fraud quickly.
Rx For 2009
Obama’s Biggest Problem
Reflections on the new year and what pharma should do to avoid a pounding from politicians.
Frustrated Justices
Supreme Court Mulls Drug Labels
A recent Supreme Court discussion suggests the high court can’t get its head around current label regulations.
Public Citizen Gadfly
Wolfe on FDA, Tequin
Public Citizen’s health research advocate Sydney Wolfe talks turkey on the antibiotic Tequin and the possibility of change at the FDA.
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So much for multimodal pain therapy. A leading proponent, anesthesiologist Scott Reuben, is watching his abruptly damaged reputation. The fraud continued for twelve years, from 1996-2008. More than twenty of Reuben's thirty peer-reviewed articles have been retracted or are being reassessed.…
We’ve been sad lately. Once again, without explanation, our invitation to a presidential inauguration has been lost in the U.S. mail. We know that when the tears stop, as they eventually must, the emotional corner will have been turned. It’s not…
As many readers know, the Supreme Court is considering the case of a Vermont musician, Diana Levine, who lost an arm when a physician assistant didn’t fully consider the label on a Wyeth anti-nausea drug. The legal debate is stark: can…
Sydney “Syd” Wolfe, director of Public Citizen’s health research group, is scratching his head. Tequin (gatifloxacin)—an antibiotic that Public Citizen had campaigned against—was pulled from the market by its manufacturer, Bristol-Meyers Squibb (BMS). But BMS said that was because of lagging…
A while back, we checked in with someone who makes a living suing the pharmaceutical industry. This week, we worked the other side of the street, chatting with Mark Mansour of Bryan Cave, where he runs the FDA practice group in…
Is there a more wasteful federal program than NASA? Does it matter if a robot can land on some planet and take a picture of itself digging a small hole? It’s clear that NASA is both useless and popular. Which is…
Because of the random sighting of Ira Spector at one conference or another, we’ve always had a soft spot for Wyeth. We don’t know Spector—no need to fret he has been consorting with the news media. But from remarks by Spector…
When will the drug safety wars end? How will they end? A new president? A Supreme Court decision? We thought Tom Lamb might know. He’s an attorney based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Like it or not, lawyers like Lamb are shaping…
With the Oscars upon us, it’s time to reflect on something simple. Our brains store information and make sense of the world in stories. This is true in all cultures, all individuals. “She saved my career.” “They worked it out.” Homo…
Earlier this month, after months of negotiations, Merck announced a large but manageable $4.85 billion settlement of an unknown number of Vioxx plaintiffs who can prove they took the drug and suffered strokes or heart attacks. Those plaintiffs still have to…
A few years ago, thinking the way all journalists think, we had an epiphany. The reportorial brain is the one we’re happily stuck with. But it often adopts a harshly negative, critical outlook that transcends age, geography and political affiliation. We…
The Post-Approval Summit at Harvard, now in its third year, is the most cerebral conference on our calendar. It is also the meeting most larded with VIP speakers, including a preponderance of physicians who run a) large swaths of international companies…
There’s another wrinkle in the Ketek story. The Wall Street Journal reports on the Congressional testimony of Ann Marie Cisneros. She’s a former employee of Pharmaceutical Product Development (PPD), a leading contract research organization with $1.26 billion in revenues in 2006.…
In the aftermath of 9/11, Newsweek did a cover story on the roots of Islamic hostility to the U.S. That story was titled “Why They Hate Us.” As 2007 begins, the same unsettling question can be asked of the life sciences.…
