SSRIs and Conflicts of Interest

[Guest guest]

An FDA reviewer last week concluded that antidepressant medicines

trigger suicidal thoughts and even suicide in some young adults

suffering from depression. This week, the Food and Drug

Administration will hold an advisory committee meeting to air this

issue.

This is a subject where opinions are highly predictable — where you

stand depends very much on where you sit. The psychiatry profession

is among the most compromised in modern medicine. Its practitioners,

having lost their ability to command reimbursement from the insurance

companies for talk therapy, have become purveyors of pills, and have

allowed the drug industry through consulting deals and other

emoluments to make up for some of their lost revenue.

However, there are some psychiatrist-physicians who aren't on the

take from the drug industry. And, when a high profile meeting like

the one that will take place this week comes up, you'd think the FDA

would reach out to find them. Alas, the FDA organizers of this

meetings still haven't gotten the message. The agency placed three

people with ties to the drug industry on the panel.

They include Leon, a professor of public health at Cornell's

Weill Medical School who is a permanent member of the committee. Leon

has received between $10,001 and $50,000 per year as a member of a

data monitoring board for an undisclosed firm that sells

antidepressants, according to the FDA waiver that will allow him to

sit on the committee. According to independent research by the Center

for Science in the Public Interest, Leon has also consulted for

Cyberonics, makers of the Vegas Nerve Shock Therapy System which

treats severe depression, and Cortex Pharmaceuticals, which make a

class of compounds used for Alzheimer's and depression. In addition,

Leon's research has been sponsored by Forest Laboratories, which make

Celexa, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).

Another panelist will be Bruce Pollock, who works at the Rotman

Research Institute in Toronto. He will not be allowed to vote in on

the issue because he receives as much as $10,000 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; for

GlaxoKline, maker of the antidepressant Paxil; and for Pfizer,

maker of Zoloft, a popular anti-depression drug.

A third waiver was issued to Bronstein, a retired nurse who will

be the consumer representative on the committee. She owns stock

valued from $5,001 to $100,000 in two drug firms that make

antidepressants. Dozens of affected " consumers " will be speaking

during the public portion of the meeting. It will be ineresting to

see how much support they receive from Bronstein.

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