Kids on Neuroleptics...?

[undergroundpanther]

The New York Times -- 24 November 2008

Research Center Tied to Drug Company

By GARDINER HARRIS

When a Congressional investigation revealed in June that Dr. Joseph
Biederman, a world-renowned child psychiatrist, had earned far more
money from drug makers than he had reported to his university, he
said that his interests were "solely in the advancement of medical
treatment through rigorous and objective study."

Court documents reveal that Dr. Joseph Biederman, a renowned child
psychiatrist, pushed Johnson & Johnson to fund a research center
whose goal was "to move forward the commercial goals of J&J."

http://tinyurl.com/biederman-bipolar or
http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/psych-drug-corp/congress/biederman-
bipolar or
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/health/25psych.html

But e-mail messages and internal documents from Johnson & Johnson
made public in a court filing reveal that Dr. Biederman pushed the
company to finance a research center at Massachusetts General
Hospital, in Boston, with a goal to "move forward the commercial
goals of J.& J." The documents also show that the company prepared a
draft summary of a study that Dr. Biederman, of Harvard, was said to
have written.

Dr. Biederman's work helped to fuel a fortyfold increase from 1994 to
2003 in the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder and a rapid rise
in the use of powerful, risky and expensive antipsychotic medicines
in children.

Although many of his studies are small and often financed by drug
makers, Dr. Biederman has had a vast influence on the field largely
because of his position at one of the most prestigious medical
institutions.

Massachusetts General said in a statement Monday that it took the
accusations related to the research center "very seriously" and
intended "to investigate these issues thoroughly."

Johnson & Johnson makes a popular antipsychotic medicine called
Risperdal, or risperidone. More than a quarter of its use is in
children and adolescents.

Last week, a panel of federal drug experts said that medicines like
Risperdal were being used too cavalierly in children and that
regulators must do more to warn doctors of their substantial risks.
Other popular antipsychotic medicines, also referred to as
neuroleptics, are Zyprexa, made by Eli Lilly; Seroquel, made by
AstraZeneca; Geodon, made by Pfizer; and Abilify, made by Bristol-
Myers Squibb.

Thousands of parents have sued AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and Johnson &
Johnson, claiming that their children were injured after taking the
medicines; they also claim that the companies minimized the risks of
the drugs.

As part of the lawsuits, plaintiffs' lawyers have demanded millions
of documents from the companies. Nearly all have been provided under
judicial seals, but a select few that mentioned Dr. Biederman became
public after plaintiffs' lawyers sought a judge's order to require
Dr. Biederman to be interviewed by them under oath.

In a motion filed two weeks ago, lawyers for the families argued that
they should be allowed to interview Dr. Biederman under oath because
his work had been crucial to the widespread acceptance of pediatric
uses of antipsychotic medicines. To support this contention, the
lawyers included more than two dozen documents, among them e-mail
messages from Johnson & Johnson that mentioned Dr. Biederman. A judge
has yet to rule on the request.

The documents offer an unusual glimpse into the delicate relationship
that drug makers have with influential doctors.

In a November 1999 e-mail message, John Bruins, a Johnson & Johnson
marketing executive, begs his supervisors to approve a $3,000 check
to Dr. Biederman as payment for a lecture he gave at the University
of Connecticut.

"Dr. Biederman is not someone to jerk around," Mr. Bruins wrote. "He
is a very proud national figure in child psych and has a very short
fuse."

Mr. Bruins wrote that Dr. Biederman was furious after Johnson &
Johnson rejected a request that Dr. Biederman had made for a $280,000
research grant. "I have never seen someone so angry," Mr. Bruins
wrote. "Since that time, our business became non-existant (sic)
within his area of control."

Mr. Bruins concluded that unless Dr. Biederman received a check soon,
"I am truly afraid of the consequences."

A series of documents described the goals behind establishing the
Johnson & Johnson Center for the study of pediatric psychopathology,
where Dr. Biederman serves as chief.

A 2002 annual report for the center said its research must satisfy
three criteria: improve psychiatric care for children, have high
standards and "move forward the commercial goals of J.& J.," court
documents said.

"We strongly believe," the report stated, "that the center's
systematic scientific inquiry will enhance the clinical and research
foundation of child psychiatry and lead to the safer, more
appropriate and more widespread use of medications in children.

"Without such data, many clinicians question the wisdom of
aggressively treating children with medications, especially those
like neuroleptics, which expose children to potentially serious
adverse events."

A February 2002 e-mail message from Georges Gharabawi, a Johnson &
Johnson executive, said Dr. Biederman approached the company
"multiple times to propose the creation" of the center. "The
rationale of this center," the message stated, "is to generate and
disseminate data supporting the use of risperidone in" children and
adolescents.

Documents show that Johnson & Johnson gave the center $700,000 in
2002 alone. Massachusetts General said in its statement on Monday
that grant agreements indicated the center "was for scientific and
educational purposes only and not for purposes of promoting, directly
or indirectly, the products of Johnson & Johnson and its affiliates."

A statement Monday from Janssen Pharmaceutica, a unit of Johnson &
Johnson, said it helped finance the research center in 2002 "with an
objective to conduct rigorous clinical trials to clarify appropriate
use and dosing of Risperdal in children."

A June 2002 e-mail message to Dr. Biederman from Dr. Gahan Pandina, a
Johnson & Johnson executive, included a brief abstract of a study of
Risperdal in children with disruptive behavior disorder. The message
said the study was intended to be presented at the 2002 annual
meeting of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

"We have generated a review abstract," Dr. Pandina wrote, "but I must
review this longer abstract before passing this along."

One problem with the study, Dr. Pandina wrote, is that the children
given placebos and those given Risperdal both improved significantly.
"So, if you could," Dr. Pandina added, "please give some thought to
how to handle this issue if it occurs."

The draft abstract that Dr. Pandina put in the e-mail message,
however, stated that only the children given Risperdal improved,
while those given placebos did not. Dr. Pandina asked Dr. Biederman
to sign a form listing himself as the author so the company could
present the study to the conference, according to the message.

"I will review this morning," responded Dr. Biederman, according to
the documents. "I will be happy to sign the forms if you could kindly
send them to me." The documents do not make clear whether he approved
the final summary of the brief abstract in similar form or asked to
read the longer report on the study.

Drug makers have long hired professional writers to compose
scientific papers and then recruited well-known doctors to list
themselves as the author. The practice, known as ghostwriting, has
come under intense criticism recently, and medical societies, schools
and journals have condemned it.

In June, a Congressional investigation revealed that Dr. Biederman
had failed to report to Harvard at least $1.4 million in outside
income from Johnson & Johnson and other makers of antipsychotic
medicines.

In one example, Dr. Biederman reported no income from Johnson &
Johnson for 2001 in a disclosure report filed with the university.
When asked by Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican who is
leading the Congressional inquiry, to check again, Dr. Biederman said
he had received $3,500. But Johnson & Johnson told Mr. Grassley that
it paid $58,169 to Dr. Biederman in 2001.

A Harvard spokesman, David J. Cameron, said Monday that the
university was still reviewing Mr. Grassley's accusations against Dr.
Biederman. Mr. Cameron added that the university had not seen the
drug company documents in question and that it was not directly
involved in the child psychiatry center at Massachusetts General.

Calls to Dr. Biederman were not returned.

- end -

~~~~~~~~~~~~

** ACTION ** ACTION ** ACTION **

* Please forward to all appropriate places on and off Internet.

* You may e-mail letter to editor of less than 150 words to The NY
Times, including your contact info, here: [e-mail]

* You may e-mail Harvard President Drew Faust asking that Dr.
Biederman be fired immediately at [e-mail]

More contact info for President Faust is here:
http://www.president.harvard.edu/contact

* You can encourage the Harvard Crimson to investigate Dr. Biederman
at [e-mail], or submit a letter between 100 and 300
words to this student newspaper at [e-mail].

According to a search, The Crimson has only mentioned Dr. Biederman
once regarding this Congressional investigation, back on 16 June
2008. The NY Times and other media, however, have written about Dr.
Biederman plenty of times, to read some of these articles see:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/search?SearchableText=biederman

~~~~~~~~~~~~

MindFreedom International is a 100 percent independent nonprofit
united to win activist campaigns for human rights and alternatives in
mental health.


http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

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[otherlander]

1. Mindfreedom is good people.

And for those who think they're too radical, this time they've got the New York Times backing them up. Dear DU'ers and other liberals: Please do not label us as "anti-psychiatry". If anything, what we want is to save psychiatry from the corrupting influence of corporate ownership, sexist paradigms, and a sick blame-the-victim mentality.

Hey Panther. :hug:

[undergroundpanther]

8. Hey! Other lander!

I am a member of MF and They KICK ASS.
I do take psych drugs but I am also very aware of the risks and benefits of any drug I take.I don't take it just because someone writes the scrip.I look it up research and if I feel the risks are not too much,and it could help me,I'll try it,if I don't like what I get. I stop the drug or taper off as required.I AM non compliant.Always will be.I have a RIGHT to be.

I was a kid forced into taking powerful doses of anti psychotic drugs(mellaril haldol thorazine etc.) at age 14.They didn't help me,they stopped my symptoms by shutting off my mind.I was misdiagnosed for years because back than NOBODY treating me wanted to admit trauma scarred people and could drive them "crazy".Once I started getting treated for trauma I began to not be such a hopeless case.For me it wasn't the drugs so much that helped it was being heard and taken at my word, and my word finally taken seriously.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. "First, do no harm."

Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase that means "First, do no harm." The phrase is sometimes recorded as primum nil nocere.

The phrase expresses one of the principal precepts all medical students are taught in medical school and is a fundamental principle for the emergency medical services. It reminds the physician and other health care providers that he or she must consider the possible harm that any intervention might do. This is most often mentioned when debating use of an intervention with an obvious chance of harm but a less certain chance of benefit. Since at least 1860, the phrase has been for physicians a hallowed expression of hope, intention, humility, and recognition that human acts with good intentions may have unwanted consequences.

[The Doctor.]

4. The Lasagna Oath...

"
I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help."

[The Doctor.]

3. This is why I can't stand psychiatrists.

... among others.

[silverojo]

5. I'm a bipolar adult, and *I* can't take those meds regularly

And now they're trying to push those pills as a drug treatment for simple depression!

These meds are WAY overprescribed!

[RandomThoughts]

6. Just a thought (non sedated)

Sometimes I think social conscious is being diagnosed as depression. And the imagination of a non conformist child, is feared. Imagination is a component in critical thinking, and finding solutions outside the status quo. A robotic population of followers are well medicated.

You see something you want to change that saddens you. Take this soma.

The alternative choice? Speak up, volunteer, learn, teach. Know that you can make a difference.

Many think this alternative is more dangerous then a sedated population.

This part is a guess, but with all the data stored on people now adays.
A group could look at all the people that did what the status quo believed challenged society. Track back their traits when they were young, and target that group to eliminate future adult free thinkers.

To those that do suffer from emotional maladies, my prayers and good will goes to you, I hope you find peace, and know for some the medication is a helpful path.

[tblue37]

7. On my _Teacher, Teacher_ site I have an article entitled

"Does Not Play Well with Others," about precisely that point:
http://teacherblue.homestead.com/playswell.html

[undergroundpanther]

10. I didn't play well with others

Because every time I did I got cornered by a crowd and beaten while teachers looked on bored and unwilling to help.
So I stopped playing with others.Could not trust any of the little bullies or their lackeys.
I am a very outgoing person. Unless I am surrounded by abusive people and their posse.Than I hate them and I do not talk to them,So if they attempt to harass or hurt me, they get worse than they bargained for.This cat will bite hard and stab deep when provoked.Because I HATE bullies.All it takes is 1 of those fuckers to ruin everything for so many.Many are scared to look at this, but I have no choice my sanity depends on it.My dream is to create an asshole free zone.A place where no bullies,con men,social poachers,enablers, narcissists,sociopaths, authoritarians or assholes are allowed.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. Wonderful insight. The establishment is trying to stomp on free-thinking and

individuality. Excellent post. I wish I could recommend your post.

[undergroundpanther]

12. Yes it is

I dress rather different And people drop jaws when I tell them I am 43.


http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=204014095


Yes,I do chew out the state board of mental health bobble heads and "honchos" in their squeaky suits with my cat ears on,and my long tail,because I am Panther,I don't care to play the "appropriate" games with these snakes of state.I am a person,however feline, and I deserve respect even if they don't get it,understand it or find it strange or even amusing. Their opinions about my unconventionalness don't have any worth to me anymore.I just tell them what I think in such a way they cannot dismiss me or negate my words.The Establishment I know, is upset by me, wants me to shut up and conform...I say,to them, NEVER.

I try to be as free as I can get in this fucked up world and so I think as free as I can too, if what I share of what I learn is too threatening,or hard they are the ones who need to wake up and realize how fettered they are..they are getting in their own way.But nooo they'll NEVER admit that.

[bobthedrummer]

11. "Nonconsensual experiments are unconstitutional but recent changes in the law allow just that"

by Cheryl Welsh (Mind Justice August 2008)

"A new Bush executive order (EO) includes an old waiver that allows human subject protections to be modified or waived by intelligence agency directors in complete secrecy..."

http://www.mindjustice.org/unconstitutional.htm

This is what we are confronted with-call it brainwashing, mind control, perception management, behavior modification, neuroscience--no matter what it is called it's often criminal and evil.

[undergroundpanther]

13. It is evil

And evil done"for your own good" is still evil.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

15. That's why they are doing so much of it on kids.

Who are under the authority of their parents and have no legal ability to opt out of being used as guinea pigs for drug experimentation.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

14. A couple weeks ago there was an OP about the use of this drug being criticized

Of course, the worshippers of Modern Medicine showed up to flame us lowly laypeople who dared to question the use of powerful anti-psychotics on children.

[cbayer]

16. Please make note of copyright rules.

"Do not post entire copyrighted articles. If you wish to reference an article, provide a brief excerpt and include a link to the original source. Generally, excerpts should not exceed three or four paragraphs."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules_detailed.html

Cheers,

cbayer
DU Moderator

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. I am a special ed teacher and drugs might not be the answer

But I can assure you there is a marked increase in kids with serious behavioral problems. 15 years ago they were *just* ADD. Now they are ADD and explosive and violent. Like I said, drugs might not be the answer but these kids are messed up due to a lot more than just lousy parenting.

[RavingMadwoman]

18. Dr. Experimenting on kids

There is a special place in hell for him and people like him