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AstraZeneca Suppressed Information about Seroquel Link to Diabetes, Told Sales Reps to Lie

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AstraZeneca Suppressed Information about Seroquel Link to Diabetes, Told Sales Reps to Lie

by: Mike Adams

Drug maker AstraZeneca, seller of the Seroquel antipsychotic drug, suppressed clinical studies showing its drug significantly increased the risk of diabetes, say internal e-mails. As Bloomberg is reporting today (February 27, 2009), employee emails that were unsealed as part of a lawsuit reveal AstraZeneca deliberately hid at least three studies that established a significant link between its Seroquel drug and the onset of diabetes in patients. This fact was blatantly admitted in a 1999 e-mail sent by an AstraZeneca official.

The Wall Street Journal is also reporting today (February 27, 2009) that “AstraZeneca instructed its U.S. sales representatives to tell doctors that its powerful psychiatric drug, Seroquel, didn’t cause diabetes even though a company physician had at one point stated years earlier that such a link was probable in some individuals.”

Today, AstraZeneca remains in spin control, once again apparently lying about its past behavior by saying, “None of the documents can obscure the fact that AstraZeneca acted responsibly and appropriately as it developed and marketed Seroquel.” (spokesperson Tony Jewell, reported in Bloomberg.com)

AstraZeneca currently faces over 9,000 lawsuits over Seroquel, involving more than 15,000 people who say the company lied about the diabetes risks of taking the drug. It is well known in the natural health industry that antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs disrupt blood sugar metabolism and promote diabetes, but drug companies and the FDA have seemingly conspired to prevent the public from learning this fact (the FDA routinely approves drugs like Seroquel by trusting the clinical trial data provided by the very same company selling the drug!).

Why Big Pharma’s “science” is pure junk

What AstraZeneca did with suppressing some clinical trials while highlighting others is called “cherry picking” the study data. It’s a red flag that scientific fraud is underway, and no self-respecting scientist would ever support any conclusion derived from clinical trials that were selected in this manner.Cherry picking the science is a routine practice at drug companies: They might commission ten (or so) studies on their drug, compile the results, then throw out all the studies showing their drug to be dangerous or deadly. The rest of the studies — which magically show the drug to be safe and effective — are then forwarded to the FDA for “review.” The FDA, which conducts no scientific studies on its own, completely trusts the drug trials funded by the drug company, so it declares the drug to be “safe and effective” and gives it the stamp of approval for nationwide consumption.

This is how drugs get approved in America today. It is laughingly called the “gold standard of evidence-based medicine” by drug pushers and FDA bureaucrats. Anyone familiar with this process, however, realizes the whole drug approval system is based on scientific fraud and has nothing whatsoever to do with rigorous science or consumer safety (but it has everything to do with profits).

How many patients have been harmed by antipsychotic drugs?

There’s no telling exactly how many patients have become diabetic or obese thanks to Big Pharma’s dangerous drugs. The drug companies, of course, refuse to admit their drugs have caused even a single case of diabetes, and the FDA — always in bed with Big Pharma — continues to defend the scientific fraud demonstrated here by AstraZeneca.In a reasonable world, all of AstraZeneca’s drugs should be immediately pulled off the market for further review, and the company should be banned from selling drugs in the United States for a minimum of three years. But the FDA does nothing. Scientific fraud is no concern at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration… it’s business as usual!

Can you imagine the outcry if a vitamin were found to cause diabetes? The FDA would go crazy over the story and probably try to ban the vitamin. Or what if an herb were discovered to cause diabetes and the herb manufacturer knew it but lied about it? The FDA would ban it and outlaw its importation into the United States.

Have you noticed all the outcry over Peanut Corp. and the fact that it knew its peanut butter was contaminated but sold it anyway? Practically the whole country went nuts over the peanut story, accusing the company of endangering the safety of consumers (which it clearly did). Many tens of millions of products were recalled and people lost their jobs. But get this: When Big Pharma knowingly sells a dangerous product and gets caught, nothing happens! Nobody loses their jobs. No products are recalled. The FDA remains utterly silent. Nobody gets prosecuted. No investigations. Just complete silence.

Why is selling dangerous peanut butter a crime but selling dangerous pharmaceuticals is openly tolerated by virtually everyone? What’s wrong with this picture?

Truth is, it’s just another day in the corrupt pharmaceutical industry. Business as usual for Big Pharma and the FDA.

*http://www.naturalnews.com/025744.html