Leon linked to pharma inc Forest Laboratories & Cyberonics

[Guest guest]

Response to Health: SSRIs and Conflicts of Interest

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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).