Drug Companies Lie for Profit

What a surprise, the FDA and the Pharmaceutical industry conspiring to help sell ineffectual drugs....

The effectiveness of a dozen popular antidepressants has been exaggerated by selective publication of favorable results, according to a review of unpublished data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration.

ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE

A review of research submitted to the FDA:
• Of 74 studies reviewed, 38 were judged to be positive by the FDA. All but one were published, researchers said.
• Most of the studies found to have negative or questionable results were not published, researchers found.

As a result, doctors and patients are getting a distorted view of how well blockbuster antidepressants like Wyeth's Effexor and Pfizer Inc.'s Zoloft really work, researchers asserted in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.

Since the overwhelming amount of published data on the drugs show they are effective, doctors unaware of the unpublished data are making inappropriate prescribing decisions that aren't in the best interest of their patients, according to researchers led by Erick Turner, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health & Science University. Sales of antidepressants total about $21 billion a year, according to IMS Health.

[From Antidepressants Under Scrutiny Over Efficacy - WSJ.com] [Digg-enabled full access to article for non-WSJ subscribers]

I know several people on these drugs, though I have found my own concoctions work better (sex, exercise, diet, coffee, and so on. I'll tell you the particulars if you ask nicely)