ACNP = Professional Drug Pushers

[Guest guest]

*Gang, Yesterday, a task force of the American College of

Neuropsychopharmacology issued a report that said the benefits of these

medications outweigh the increased risk of suicidal thoughts. The spokesman

for the panel was Columbia University's own Dr. Mann, who **responded

to the press. (I appended the RAP **SHEETS of Mann and all panel members to

this report). Gang members, Van Syckel and Dr. ph Glenmullin,

rebutted Dr. Mann's statements. Vince**

*

http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/pharmaceutical/index.ssf?/base/business-0/1132\

811111198310.xml & coll=1

*Academics: Antidepressant use worth risk

Benefits outweigh dangers for children, task force finds

Thursday, November 24, 2005

BY ED SILVERMAN

Star-Ledger Staff

For parents and doctors, the heated debate over treating youngsters with

antidepressants just got more confusing.

A report issued yesterday by a panel of academic experts said the benefits

of these medications outweigh the increased risk of suicidal thoughts. In

particular, the report cited Prozac, which is the only antidepressant

actually approved for treating children.

The findings come a year after the Food and Drug Administration issued

strict warnings to doctors about prescribing antidepressants to children, a

move that followed two years of controversy over reports that the drugs

increased suicides and suicidal thoughts.

In reaching its conclusion, a task force of the American College of

Neuropsychopharmacology urged doctors to be more vigilant in monitoring

patients who are prescribed antidepressants, but not to abandon use of the

medications.

" The idea that antidepressants are responsible for suicides isn't supported

by the data, " said Mann, a co-chair of the task force and chief of the

neuroscience department at Columbia University's New York State Psychiatric

Institute.

" But we're not saying there's data out there guaranteeing the safety of

these medications either, " he said. " We are saying that doctors should be

careful because they're treating a condition -- depression -- which is the

third-leading cause of death among youngsters. "

A similar stance was taken earlier this year by the American Psychiatric

Association, which launched an informational Web site about the drugs,

citing concerns that the FDA warning may scare families whose children might

benefit from medication.

One parent, however, took umbrage with the latest report.

_ Van Syckel _of Raritan Township, who began lobbying Congress for

greater regulation of the pharmaceutical industry after her daughter

attempted suicide while taking Paxil, noted the task force didn't gain

access to some unpublished drug-company data.

" This is incomplete, " she said. " They shouldn't be releasing this kind of

conclusion unless they've seen all of the data. This means we'll have

physicians still on the fence on this issue because they won't know who to

believe. "

She also expressed concern that nine of 10 task force members have received

consulting fees, speaking fees or grants from drugmakers, including Pfizer,

Wyeth, Eli Lilly and GlaxoKline, that sell antidepressants. Amounts

weren't disclosed in the report.

For his part, Mann rejected the implication that industry ties influenced

the report. Despite those ties, he pointed out, drugmakers refused to give

the task force all of their unpublished clinical-trial data.

" We would have a more accurate assessment if we had access to the data, "

Mann said, adding the panel instead relied on an FDA safety database,

medical literature, and epidemiological and autopsy studies of teenage

suicides.

One expert cautioned the report should be viewed skeptically. _ph

Glenmullen_, a Harvard Medical School psychiatry instructor who has written

two books critical of antidepressants, said parents should regard medication

as a last resort, despite the findings.

" Just because a drug has FDA approval doesn't mean it's the right thing,

unless a child has had a full work-up, preferably by a child psychiatrist, "

he said. " And don't take a blanket statement as the final word. Find out for

yourself the details of the benefits and risks. "

© 2005 The Star Ledger

© 2005 NJ.com .

Who are these mysterious panelists? **Here's the names ,

addresses, phone numbers, and RAP SHEETS of these nice folks.

This is from the /preliminary report from 2004.

(I have a .pdf file if anyone wants it, just drop me a note - Vince.)

/

American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

Task Force on SSRIs and Suicidal Behavior

Task Force Members and Disclosures

J. Mann, M.D.

Task Force Co-Chair

Professor of Psychiatry and Radiology, Columbia University College of

Physicians and Surgeons

Chief, Department of Neuroscience,

New York State Psychiatric Institute

ACNP

Industry Affiliations:

v Consultant: GlaxoKline, Pfizer, 2001 (expert trial witness)

v Grants/Research Support: Pfizer

v Attended 2002 GlaxoKline Advisory group meeting on lamotrigine

Graham Emslie, M.D.

Task Force Co-Chair

Chief, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Professor of

Psychiatry,

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas

ACNP

Industry Affiliations:

v Consultant/Speaker's Bureau: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Forest

Laboratories,

GlaxoKline, McNeil, Otsuka, Pfizer, Inc., Wyeth-Ayerst

v Grants/Research Support: Eli Lilly, Novartis, Organon

Beardslee, M.D.

Psychiatrist-in-Chief and Chair, Children's Hospital Department of

Psychiatry

Professor of Child Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

No Industry Affiliations

Jan Fawcett, M.D.

Professor of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico

ACNP

Industry Affiliations:

v Consultant: Abbott Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and

Company, Forest

Laboratories, Janssen Pharmaceutica, GlaxoKline, Merck & Co., Inc.,

Pfizer, Inc.,

Pharmacia & Upjohn, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories

v Speaker's Bureau: Abbott Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and

Company,

Pfizer/Roerig, Pharmacia, GlaxoKline, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,

Wyeth-Ayerst

Laboratories

v Grants/Research Support: National Institute of Mental Health, Abbott

Laboratories,

Astra Zeneca Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoKline, Eli

Lilly

and Company, Organon, Pfizer, Inc., Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories

Fred Goodwin, M.D.

Research Professor of Psychiatry and Director, Psychopharmacology Research

Center,

Washington University

ACNP

Industry Affiliations:

v Consultant: Glaxo, Lilly, Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Solvay. Elan,

Novartis

v Speakers Bureau: Bristol Myers Squibb, Solvay, Glaxo, Pfizer, Janssen,

Lilly,

AstraZeneca,

v Grants/Research Support: Abbott Laboratories, Glaxo, Solvay, Janssen,

Pfizer, Lilly,

Forest, Sanofi,

Leon, Ph.D.

Professor of Biostatistics in Psychiatry and Professor of Public Health,

Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Industry Affiliations:

v Consultant: Cyberonics, Inc., Cortex Pharmaceuticals

v Delivered a presentation and prepared a manuscript for Forest Labs titled

" Are Two

Antidepressant Mechanisms Better than One? Issues in Clinical Trial Design

and

Analysis "

Wagner, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,

Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,

University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston

ACNP

Industry Affiliations:

v Consultant: Abbott Laboratories, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Cyberonics, Eli

Lilly, Forest

Laboratories, Glaxo- Kline, Janssen, Novartis, Otskua, Pfizer, UCB

Pharma,

Wyeth-Ayerst

v Speaker's Bureau: Abbott Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Co., Forest

Laboratories, Glaxo-

Kline, Janssen, Novartis, Pfizer Inc.

v Advisory Board: Abbott Laboratories, Eli Lilly and Co., Forest

Laboratories, Glaxo-

Kline, Janssen, Novartis, Otsuka, Pfizer, UCB Pharma, Wyeth-Ayerst

v Research Support: Abbott, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Forest

Laboratories,

GlaxoKline, Organon, Pfizer, Wyeth-Ayerst, National Institute of Mental

Health*