The agency’s response to CCHR’s reports of the drug’s dangers and growing public concern was a 1991 “review” by its Psychopharmacological Drugs Advisory Committee.
But the review turned out to be nothing short of a whitewash. Dozens of Prozac victims or their surviving family members told the FDA committee of horror stories linking the drug to multiple murders, suicides and other nightmarish effects. Yet the panel voted to do nothing. It was later documented that at least five of the 10 committee members had conflicts of interest at the time they “reviewed” Prozac. But, it seemed, the FDA’s cover-up was complete.
And what was Lilly’s response? Not to do anything about either the drug or the lives that were being destroyed. Instead, the motif was a familiar one: Kill the messenger.
The firm launched a multi-pronged, international – and ultimately unsuccessful – public relations offensive against both CCHR and the Church of Scientology. As documented in court records, it included both their own literature and “messages” carried by other media, most notably Time magazine.
More recently, the FDA took its protection of a deadly drug to a new low – at the expense of the public good. In November 1996, the agency rubber-stamped Prozac for use in treating bulimia.
Before that year had even begun, the FDA had reportedly received more than 35,230 reports of adverse reactions to the drug. But no one at the agency was moved to action, even when the number shot past the 40,000 mark.
The result: Many parties went to the courts for justice after loss or injury of a loved one linked to the drug. Among them were the survivors and relatives of Joseph Wesbecker’s onslaught.
Continued...
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