click on the letter [below] for a pdf file with full text
Congressman queries FDA on Neurontin | Earlier this year, New York state congressional representative Maurice Hinchey [22nd Dist.] learned of an independent study conducted regarding any links between suicides and the use of the psychpharm drug Neurontin | The study looked at people who commited suicide yet who had no previos history of mental illness | A conference call was then held between staff from the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] and the law firm that authorized the study | FDA personnel expressed concern and suggested that the informaion gathered on Neurontin was "the world's most important data set" regarding adverse psychiatric events and use of Nuerontin | That was last spring |
Although the FDA also said the evidence suggested a potential "imminent health hazard" they did nothing about this except as the law firm who reported this to conduct more studies on the drug |
I thought independent studies was the FDA's job | Instead, Congressman Hinchey makes reference to the FDA's active participation in assisting drug companies in lawsuits against them |
Incidentally, this is not the first time Neurontin has come under closer scrutiny | In March 2004, an article in the New York Times reported that the original manufacturer, Parke-Davis, [now owned by Pfizer] has "...illegally promoted the drug to prescribing physicians for at least 11 "off-label" (unapproved) medical conditions, using their own employees, euphemistically called "medical liaisons." | Even where I work [a psychiatric facility], doctors are wary about prescribing this drug for psychiatric patients, who may have clinical conditions for which the drug was originally authorized | They won't say so on the record, but they opine about Nuerontin in front of non-clinical staff; the most common comment is that the drug is clinically "worthless" |
The FDA officials haev known about the rsiks of Neurontin since [at least] March 2004 | Congressman Hinchey's letter [and subsequent press release - click for the pdf version] makes this notice more public | Now let's see how long these "permanant" government employees continue to sit on this problem |
posted by Will Brady @ 04:51
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