Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial [Hardcover]

Alison Bass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1565125533 | ISBN-13: 978-1565125537 | Edition: 1

As the mental health reporter for the Boston Globe, Alison Bass's front-page reporting on conflicts of interest in medical research stunned readers, and her series on sexual misconduct among psychiatrists earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Now she turns her investigative skills to a controversial case that exposed the increased suicide rates among adolescents taking antidepressants such as Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft.

Side Effects tells the tale of a gutsy assistant attorney general who, along with an unlikely whistle-blower at an Ivy League university, uncovered evidence of deception behind one of the most successful drug campaigns in history. Paxil was the world's bestselling antidepressant in 2002. Pediatric prescriptions soared, even though there was no proof that the drug performed any better than sugar pills in treating children and adolescents, and the real risks the drugs posed were withheld from the public. The New York State Attorney General's office brought an unprecedented lawsuit against giant manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Paxil, for consumer fraud. The successful suit launched a tidal wave of protest that changed the way drugs are tested, sold, and marketed in this country.

With meticulous research, Alison Bass shows us the underbelly of the pharmaceutical industry. She lays bare the unhealthy ties between the medical establishment, big pharma, and the FDA—relationships that place vulnerable children and adults at risk every day.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This densely researched report adds to the growing literature on Big Pharma's efforts to sell blockbuster drugs and with its two crusading heroes seems ready for Hollywood. Expanding on her reporting for the Boston Globe, Bass focuses on psychiatrist Martin Teicher, who as early as 1988 noticed that the antidepressant Prozac seemed paradoxically to cause suicidal thoughts in his patients, and the nearly blind Rose Firestein, a lawyer in the New York State attorney general's office who was investigating the inappropriate marketing and use of Paxil for unapproved purposes. Drug companies insisted there was no scientific evidence whatsoever linking GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil, Ely Lilly's Prozac and other serotonin-increasing antidepressants to suicidal thoughts and behavior, and Bass describes the dogged battle to show that company researchers had deliberately suppressed the results of trials with negative outcomes. Bass also follows the story of Tonya Brooks, an unhappy teenager who attempted suicide while taking Paxil. Although the story sometimes gets lost in the details of then attorney general Eliot Spitzer's 2004 suit against GlaxoSmithKline (eventually settled for $2.5 million), this story of determined do-gooders is inspiring. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Science journalist Bass gives us a book with a bonus. The book is about a conscientious whistle blower and a feisty New York State assistant attorney general who believed something about the promotion of the billion-dollar antidepressant Paxil stank. Individually, they didn’t know exactly what was wrong with the way the manufacturer, then SmithKline Beecham, was promoting the drug, but together they exposed a cover-up involving everyone from drug company executives to so-called independent researchers to medical journals and even the FDA. The conspiracy concealed negative side effects from physicians who, in good faith, prescribed Paxil, which ultimately exacerbated the conditions of already severely depressed patents, which led some of them to suicide. The bonus is an important caveat, a warning that, when only positive clinical test results are reported, there is much to be gained by too many greedy people, and that passing medical journal and FDA muster may not guarantee that critical information hasn’t slipped through the cracks in a flawed system. --Donna Chavez

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1 edition (June 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565125533
• ISBN-13: 978-1565125537
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,713 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Exposé, June 23, 2008

By 

Justiceseeker (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial (Hardcover)

Alison Bass brings all the players to life, both the good and the bad, in this well documented story behind the NY Attorney General's legal action against GSK. This book is in the tradition of Erin Brokavich or A Civil Action; it reads like a novel, like a thriller in fact, only it's true. No one could make this stuff up. I could not put it down. Bass deserves a lot of credit for her courage in writing this. Not only does she expose the underbelly of academic research at prestigious Ivy League schools, but also uncovers the sordid manipulation of patient advocacy groups like NAMI by pharmaceutical interests. Nothing is sacred. She goes after it all and it's a story that needs to be told in full just as it is here. I hope it will be widely read. It is a useful and exciting addition to the many books coming out about the corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, academic research, and the regulatory authorities, bringing it down to a very human level.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitely a must-read for us (and our legislators), July 6, 2008

By 

Dr Cathy Goodwin (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial (Hardcover)

It's horrifying to read about our dependence on drugs. I was shocked with the first story: A teenager feels uncomfortable in social situations. She sees an ad on television promising a drug to turn teens from wallflowers to social butterflies. She asks her doctor for the drug. No problem, he says. He's not a psychiatrist, but he is an MD.

Aside from concerns about effects of these drugs on children and young people, why doesn't someone ask why doctors encourage patients to seek solutions in a bottle? How is depression diagnosed (or over-diagnosed)?

Then we have a story of a psychiatrist at Brown University who appears to be billing the government for research he's not conducting. He's also adjusting research reports to discount side effects.

He's still around, still holding a prestigious position at Brown University, still receiving research grants.

Author Bass also quotes a disturbing statistic: doctors who accept money from pharmaceutical companies (for research, consulting or testifying) tend to prescribe a lot more medication than those who don't.

The fiery, likeable prosecutor battles her own vision problems as well as the pharmaceutical industry. It's frustrating to read about the legal minutiae she has to address while people are dying from these drugs. The judge's name sounds familiar: I believe she was also the judge in the Martha Stewart case.

At the end of the book, we learn that the troubled teen lost her pill-induced "suicidal ideation" after discontinuing Ambien and Paxil. She has learned to accept her personality and she's found the perfect job as a veterinary technician.

That's the good news. But as Bass reports, FDA reports still depend on doctors who accept money from drug companies, but claim they remain unbiased. Maybe they could work on a drug to cure their deep denial.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Story about Pharmaceutical Industry Coverup, June 12, 2008

By 

Stuart Brager (Scotts Valley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial (Hardcover)

Side Effects reads like a novel, even though it is a factual, non-fiction book. It is a well-written, outstanding story that depicts how several pharmaceutical firms along with the FDA intentionally did not disclose the negative, suicidal side affects of anti-depressant drugs such as Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft. Alison Bass weaves this story through a few victims and researchers who were trying to get out the truth and stand up against some very powerful, manipulative and well-financed pharmaceutical companies who make billions of dollars from these drugs. A must read!