Donate Now! with Paypal Donate
Now!

Locating Information

Site Search
Site Map
Site Navigation
Conditions of Use

Note: We have no control over external content linked from this site.

External links are removed when the useful content is no longer available.

Older Stories

Archived News Articles & Announcements

Recent news is found on our Home page in the right column.

March 8/10 —
Seroquel cocktail and military deaths

March 6/10 —
Direct patient reporting of adverse drug reactions: a twelve-country survey & literature review (PDF–195KB)

March 6/10 —
Emotional side-effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (Abstract)

February 10/10 —
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and breast cancer mortality in women receiving tamoxifen

February 8/10 —
Too much health care: We can’t afford life’s creeping medicalization

February 4/10 —
The Depressing News About Antidepressants: no more effective than a placebo … may be worse

January 31/10 —
Fattened by pills: Overprescribing of psychiatric drugs contributing to obesity

January 22/10 —
How the US exports its mental illnesses

January 22/10 —
Drugmaker Got Kickbacks for Nursing Home Patients

January 13/10 —
Monitoring of high-risk medications unchanged despite FDA warnings

January 8/10 —
Bitter Pill — A Portland doc flips on big pharma and reveals its “dirty little secret.”

December 30/09 —
Pfizer eyes Canada — World's biggest drug maker sets its sights on Canadian healthcare

December 17/09 —
Anti-depressants 'up stroke risk'

December 14/09 —
Glaxo Said to have paid $1 billion in Paxil suits (update2)

December 14/09 —
Poor children likelier to get antipsychotics

December 8/09 —
Deaths related to narcotic pain relievers have doubled since 1991: study

December 4/09 —
Promotional spending for prescription drugs $20.5 billion in 2008 (PDF–592KB)

November 28/09 —
 Big pharma beaten

November 19/09 —
 Birth defects caused by medications avoidable: study

November 19/09 —
 Pediatric Zyprexa brochures embarrass British health service

November 16/09 —
 Pfizer VP appointment to Canadian Institutes of Health Research a clear conflict of interest

November 13/09 —
 Chemical restraints killing dementia patients

November 13/09 —
 US Senator wants Pentagon to review antidepressants

November 11/09 —
 Big pharma's crime spree: Pfizer broke the law by promoting drugs for unapproved uses

November 11/09 —
Pregnant women risk early delivery from using psychiatric medication >>

October 29/09 —
 Compromised care: psychotropic drugs given to nursing home patients without cause

October 29/09 —
 Weight gain associated with antipsychotic drugs

October 29/09 —
 Effectiveness of antidepressants: an evidence myth constructed from a thousand randomized trials?

October 27/09 —
 Bleak Britain: anti-depressant prescriptions soar even though illness declines

October 27/09 —
 SSRIs & Withdrawal/ Dependence

October 22/09 —
 3/4 of the donations to the largest mental health organization in the US come from drug companies

October 20/09 — Pharmalot blog added More…

October 15/09 —  Do depressed people really have a chemical imbalance in the brain?

October 15/09 — The Cochrane Library added More…

October 13/09 —  Paxil on trial — read the court transcripts

October 13/09 — Canadian Adverse Reaction Newsletter added More…

October 12/09 —  GSK is sued in US over alleged link of paroxetine to birth defects

October 9/09 —  Insomnia drugs could lead to sleepwalking

October 9/09 — Drug Product Database Online Query — more complete descriptions of drugs, their use, contraindications and potential risks

October 9/09 — Drugs associated with more suicidal ideations are also associated with more suicide attempts (PDF— 226KB)

October 1/09 — The tide is turning against pharmaceutical ads (.DOC— 837KB)

September 22/09 — Pharma's clout weakens care

September 22/09 —  Document details plan to promote costly drug

September 22/09 — Glaxo linked birth defect of fetus to Paxil, ex-executive says

August 10/09 — Feds hit Pfizer with a $2.3 billion fine

August 10/09 — Doped and duped

August 10/09 — Women given antidepressant that can cause birth defects

August 10/09 — Antidepressants once seen as miracle drugs: now risks are becoming evident

July 9/09 — Increase in use of antipsychotic drugs among Canadian seniors

July 8/09 — Interpreting antidepressant clinical trials

July 8/09 — Antidepressant use linked to bone loss

July 2/09 — Antipsychotic drug use spiralling in kids, research says

June 17/09 — Sudden death and use of stimulant medications in youths

June 8/09 — Prescription Opiate - Talk Tape on CBC's “The Current” (you'll need to scroll down the page to view Part 2)

June 8/09 — Meltdown in the drug industry

June 8/09 — New study: antidepressants commonly prescribed with Tamoxifen put women at much higher risk for recurrent breast cancer

June 8/09 — APA 2009: atypical antipsychotics linked to rapid, adverse metabolic changes in children

June 1/09 — Psychiatric Drugs Might Raise Cardiac Death Risk

May 28/09 — Legal loophole exposes Canadians to drug advertising banned in US: UBC research

“A legal loophole is counteracting Canada's ban on direct-to-consumer drug advertising and has exposed Canadians to more than $90 million worth of ads, including those for drugs with life-threatening risks, according to a study by UBC researchers.”

March 27/09 — Online Age Quiz Is a Window for Drug Makers

March 27/09 — Prescription sales rise by $1.2-billion, even as generics gain popularity

March 18/09 — A Silenced Drug Study Creates An Uproar

March 6/09 — Important Ruling - Patients in the US who have been harmed by drugs can continue to sue for damages!

February 6/09 — Metabolic monitoring in patients prescribed antipsychotics abysmal

January 29/09 — Death by Prescription: A Father Takes on His Daughter's Killer—the Multi-Billion Dollar Pharmaceutical Companies (book review)

January 23/09 — Eli Lilly to pay largest settlement in history over Zyprexa marketing tactics

January 4/09 — Alzheimer's drugs nearly double death risk in elderly: study

January 4/09 — Bitter Pill: A Portland doc flips on big pharma and reveals its “dirty little secret.”

November 27/08 —  Proceedings from “Adverse Reactions to Drugs: What is Our Responsibility?” by Sara Bostock (PDF— 32KB)

November 19/08 — Use of antipsychotics in children is criticized

November 18/08 — One-third of Asthma Cases not Asthma: study

November 17/08 — The epidemic of overmedication

November 17/08 — Prescription drugs kill 300 percent more Americans than illegal drugs

November 15/08 — Big Bucks, Big Pharma: marketing disease and pushing drugs (YouTube video)

November 15/08 — Drugged-out seniors a prescription for disaster

October 3/08 — CanWest Global’s campaign to allow dangerous prescription drug advertising (YouTube video)

October 3/08 — Top psychiatrist failed to report drug income

September 26/08 — Antidepressants may harm male fertility

September 26/08 — B.C. Health minister won’t prevent gifts going to doctors

September 21/08 — Secondary effects of antipsychotics: women at greater risk than men

September 18/08 — Behind the scenes of drug marketing: The ‘Wonder Drug’ episode on “The Hollowmen,” an Australian TV show

September 16/08 — Nanaimo: prescription drug abuse grows

September 11/08 — Drugs and the elderly in Canadian nursing homes

September 11/08 —  2004 report states 5/6 elderly taking prescription drugs in the US

August 28/08 —  Drug safety warnings ineffective in decreasing antipsychotic prescriptions for the elderly in Canada

August 26/08 —  Stanford to limit drug maker financing

August 26/08 —  Drug Companies and Schizophrenia: unbridled capitalism meets madness (PDF— 324KB)

August 22/08 —  Don’t become a victim of medical marketing

August 15/08 —  Ending the Love affair between big pharma and the medical profession

August 1/08 —  Pill Pushers: pharmaceutical marketing in an overmedicated nation

July 31/08 —  Trucker's Death uncovers drug in herbal remedy

July 12/08 —  American Psychiatric Association Faces scrutiny for drug company ties

June 23/08 —  The accuracy of psychiatric medication advertisements in medical journals

June 23/08 —  Grassley probes Paxil suicide risk

June 21/08 —  Britain’s Child victims of the chemical Cosh

June 18/08 —  Non drug treatments for attention deficit disorder gaining credibility

June 18/08 —  Drug Companies hide information on serious risks of antidepressants (video)

June 17/08 —  Paxil suicide data should be investigated, Grassley says

June 16/08 — Legal Drugs kill far more than illegal, Florida says

June 10/08 — Researchers fail to reveal full drug pay

June 5/08 — Persistent sexual dysfunction after discontinuation of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors

May 29/08 —  Psychiatric Medication Awareness Group Condemns government recommendation to scrap drug safety watchdog (PDF— 15KB)

May 29/08 — Highly-lauded drug assessment program under attack; (PDF)

May 29/08 —  Current prescriptions of psychotropic drugs are irrational for the patients but very rational for the big pharma

May 29/08 —  Life saving drug watchdog may be scrapped

Mar. 13/08 —  Uncomfortably Numb (Excerpted from A Brief History of Anxiety)

Mar. 9/08 — Marketing Overdose is a short video series about how drug companies unethically promote drugs to the public, doctors and via patient groups.

Mar. 4/08 —  Drug Firms pressed on secret pill data

Feb. 27/08 —  Drug Giants warned: tell the truth on medicines

Feb. 26/08 —  Anti-depressants’ ‘little effect’

Jan. 31/08 —  A Pill for every ill — or an ill for every pill?

Jan. 17/08 — Researchers find a bias toward upbeat findings on antidepressants

Jan. 15/08 — The ABCs of Disease Mongering: An epidemic in 26 letters (new book)

Jan. 8/08 — The Medicated Child: PBS takes on pharma
Preview Video

Jan. 3/08 — Warning: drug ads can make you sick

Dec. 19/07 — SSRI antidepressants linked to most school shootings

Dec. 18/07 — Dangerous drugs continue to be prescribed to seniors: CBC report

Dec. 7/07 — Reported suicides—more than 80 percent got psychiatric drugs; well over 50 percent got antidepressants

Dec. 7/07 — Prescription abuse seen in U.S. nursing homes

Dec. 7/07 — Exercise pill hope for depression

Dec. 7/07 — No proof for imbalance of Serotonin in the brain in depression (PDF)

Dec. 7/07 — Older women on tranquillisers are major road risk

Nov. 17/07 — WorstPills.org Reliable, objective, evidence-based and authoritative guide to prescription drugs (subscription-based)

Nov. 13/07 — Drugs for ADHD ‘not the answer’

Nov. 7/07 — Antidepressant use during pregnancy increases risk to infants: study

Nov. 7/07 — Antipsychotic drug use and mortality in older adults with dementia

Nov. 7/07 — World experts demand end to child drugging in the US Part IPart II

Nov. 7/07 — Rethinking models of psychotropic drug action

Nov. 6/07 — Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing disease & pushing drugs

Oct. 7/07 — OxyContin Drug company sued for millions

Aug. 1/07 — Seniors popping pills despite warnings

Aug./07 — Alcohol use and anxiety

July 22/07 — Australia in legal drug abuse crisis

July 17/07 — Class action filed for users of Sleepees

July 13/07 — Drug prescribing for elderly called in calamitous state

July 10/07 —  Prescription for Injury—book by Colin Downes-Grainger

July 10/07 — Elderly patients get hooked on sleeping pills

June 13/07 — Benzos & acid reflux

June 3/07 — Elderly doctors & drug-prescribing

May 23/07 — Benzodiazepine Dependency cause for concern in Quebec senior population

May 18/07 — The role of the pharmaceutical companies in the treatment of mental ill health (Dr. Heather Ashton speech)

Mar. 29/07 — Bipolar Treatment comes into question

Apr. 28/07 — U.S. wonders if Zyprexa drug data was accurate

Apr. 26/07 — Pharma greed gone mad?

Apr. 5/07 — Neuroleptics—dangerous in Alzheimer’s?

March 21/07 — Prominent Psychiatrist forced to finally concede that psychiatric diagnoses are not based on science

March 14/07 — Sleeping aids may trigger allergic reactions, dangerous behaviour

March 2/07 — Warning issued over drug [Effexor]

Jan. 12/07 — Suicide rates in hospitals ‘very high’

Dec. 18/06 — Zyprexa sales rep video — a must-see!

Dec. 13/06 — Health Canada issues warning for sleep supplement

Dec. 7/06 — Do SSRI antidepressants lead to an increase in violent behaviour?

Dec. 5/06 — SSRI Experts head to Washington to testify before FDA panel

Sept./06 — Anti-depressants and violence: problcites at the interface of medicine and law

Sept./06 — Anti-depressant drugs linked to increased risk of death for heart patients

Aug. 26/06 — Antidepressants during pregnancy may affect baby

2006 — Strategies for discontinuing long-term Benzodiazepine use

Aug. 8/06 — Some say ending antidepressants daunting

July 11/06 — Financial ties to industry cloud depression study

July/06 — Do anti-depressants cure or create abnormal brain states?

June/06 — Statement by school social worker about psychiatric drugs & children

June 30/06 — STAR*D Wars: The corruption of the NIMH and the failure of anti- depressants

June/06 — SSRI disaster stories

May 13/06 — “Prescribed to Death”  wins top award for investigative journalism in Canada

May 8/06 — New pharma ad rules result in more ads

May 18/06 — Users of popular sleep aid report problems at night >>

May/06 — US: selling to the worried well

May 8/06 — Doctors say drugmakers are ‘disease-mongering’ to boost sales

May 1/06 — Elderly at risk using mood drugs

Mar.-Apr./06 — Trends in prescribing of antipsychotic medications for US children

Spring 2006 — Survey finds drugs often prescribed incorrectly

Mar.23/06 — Sleep deprivation: the great American myth  >>

Feb. 7/06 — Record sales of sleeping pills are causing worries

Feb. 6/06 — Prescription drug death toll rising…women are dying in greater numbers from prescription drug overdoses than from street drugs such as cocaine and heroin

Jan. 12/06 — Antidepressant madness strikes baseball pitcher Jeff Reardon

Dec. 8/05 — CBC Radio’s investigative report on “Canada’s prescription drug problem,” Focusing on Benzodiazepines

Nov. 17/05 — Many kids taking sleeping pills

Nov. 14/05 — “Bitter Pills” do the new anti-depressants work? and are they worth the risk?

Nov. 11/05 — Sedatives risk fears for elderly

Nov. 8/05 — Ads for SSRI antidepressants are misleading, say researchers

Oct. 26/05 — U.S. Alters test policy on psychiatric drugs, FDA won’t require 6-month studies

Oct. 20/05 — Big pharma’s calling the shots

July 8/05 — Prescribed to death

June 17/05 — Benzodiazepines increase symptoms of restless legs syndrome.

May/05 — Women and Health Protection releases new paper on SSRIs (PDF)

May/05 — Are Medical journals laundering information for pharmaceutical companies?

^^ back to top