[NYTr] More Info: Experts Question Study on Youth Suicide Rates

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

ADDENDUM TO NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE (ALSO REDISTRIBUTED BY THIS GROUP.]


ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP) - Sep 17, 2007
Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability
http://www.ahrp.org and http://ahrp.blogspot.com

Friday's Infomail neglected to point out an important acknowledgement
by one of the lead authors of a widely cited, seriously flawed study.

See:
http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2007/09/experts-question-study-on-youth-suicide.html 

The disputed study was funded by the National Institute of Mental
Health and Pfizer, manufacturer of the antidepressant, Zoloft
(Sertraline) http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/562598  and published
in the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association [Am J
Psychiatry, 2007;164:1356-1363]. 

The authors reported a sharp 8% increase in suicides among youth (aged
10 to 24) between 2003 and 2004, the largest single-year increase in 15
years. They attributed the rise to reduced antidepressant prescriptions
for that age group following FDA-required Black Box warnings that went
into effect in 2005. 

The uncritical press broadcast industry's propaganda, not even checking
whether the dates coincided. In October 2004, Pfizer's direct to
consumer Zoloft advertisements--such as appeared in The New York Times
magazine--failed to include ANY of the FDA required warnings. 
http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/04/11/01.php

Indeed, as late as December 23, 2004, SSRI drug manufacturers were still
haggling with the FDA about the wording of the warnings.
http://www.ahrp.org/infomail/04/12/23.php 

Not until 2005, did the companies actually add Black Box warnings
acknowledging that evidence from controlled trials links these drugs to
increased risk for suicidal acts. 

This is but one of the obvious facts contradicting the claims made by
authors whose financial ties to drug manufacturers may have skewed their
conclusions. [1] [2] Their claim that lowered prescribing of
antidepressants resulted in a higher suicide rate among teens is not
supported by any evidence, including their own.  

Indeed, when pressed by independent scientists who dispute the unfounded
conclusions, Dr. Robert Gibbons, the lead author, acknowledged in the
New York Times: "that the data from the United States that he and his
colleagues analyzed did not support a causal link between prescription
rates and suicide in 2004."  He stated: "We really need to see the 2005
numbers on suicide to see what happened."  Actually, those numbers
would still not provide scientific evidence of a causal relationship
inasmuch as the aggregate data is non-specific and not controlled for
confounding variables.

Dr. J. John Mann, the other lead author, an influential psychiatrist at
Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute,
persists in holding fast to a cause and effect relationship. He told
the Times: "The most plausible explanation is a cause and effect
relationship: prescription rates change, therefore suicides change."
One is reminded of the rooster who believes that his crowing causes the
sun to rise. 

In fact, the AJP authors do not know whether those who committed suicide
were either depressed or had been prescribed antidepressants,
antipsychotics or a toxic combination of psychotropic drug cocktail--as
is the current fashion among psychiatrists!  

When scientists are for sale and "peer reviewed" journals publish
planted commercial pronouncements masquerading as "science" news
reports, the public is advised to disregard those "news" reports and
wait for the evidence to be independently examined and either
corroborated or refuted.  

Financial Disclosure:

1. Robert D. Gibbons, director of the Center for Health Statistics and
professor of biostatistics and psychiatry at the University of
Illinois, in Chicago.

Industry Affiliations: 

Has served as an expert witness for Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, makers of the
antidepressant Effexor. See:
http://www.cspinet.org/integrity/watch/index.html and
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/562598

2. J. John Mann MD, the Paul Janssen Professor of Translational
Neuroscience in Psychiatry and Radiology, Columbia University College
of Physicians and Surgeons; Chief, Department of Neuroscience, New York
State Psychiatric Institute.

Longstanding Industry Affiliations: 

Consultant and expert witness: GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, 2000, 2001
(lamotrigine; Zoloft)

Participated in GlaxoSmithKline Advisory group meeting on
lamotrigine (2002); See:
http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2006/12/13/ap/health/d8m06tg00.txt

Grants/Research Support: PET ligand development grant from Pfizer
(2003), Beta-amyloid imaging grant from GlaxoSmithKline (2005)

Grants/Research Support: PET ligand development grant from Pfizer
(2003), Beta-amyloid imaging grant from GlaxoSmithKline (2005)

Received three years of funding from Janssen Pharmaceutica for
research involving all suicide victims in a region of Hungary
(http://www.hu.afsp.org/english/fr_hun_eng.htm);  

Received funding from Eli Lilly for a study on the safety and
biological mechanisms of action of norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake
inhibitor antidepressants (1990). See:

(http://www.healyprozac.com/Trials/Tobin/Transcripts/5-31%20Suhaney-Mann.txt
p.1622; and:

http://www.cspinet.org/cgi-bin/integrity.cgi

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
212-595-8974
veracare at ahrp.org