The drugs don't work: a modern medical scandal
The doctors prescribing the drugs don't know they don't do what they're meant to. Nor do their patients. The manufacturers know full well, but they're not telling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/sep/21/drugs-industry-scandal-ben-goldacre

Killer cures: Why the drugs really can make you worse

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/killer-cures-why-the-drugs-really-can-1333744

With this wonder drug, you just pop till you drop

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9562868/With-this-wonder-drug-you-just-pop-till-you-drop.html

Channel 4 drugs programme criticised by Government's chief adviser

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9571107/Channel-4-drugs-programme-criticised-by-Governments-chief-adviser.html

Australian health authorities have expressed regret over a bungled Aboriginal health campaign featuring a poster of the female body filled with basic errors, including an extra pancreas and the ovaries labelled as the kidneys.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/9583598/Australian-health-authorities-under-fire-over-Aboriginal-health-campaign.html

18,000 websites selling illegal medicines closed down

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/18000-websites-selling-illegal-medicines-closed-down-8197489.html

US meningitis deaths: pharmacy firms plan voluntary shutdown

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/us-meningitis-deaths-pharmacy-firms-plan-voluntary-shutdown-8206051.html

Meningitis outbreak: US health authorities say 14,000 at risk
Senator calls for federal investigation as Florida and Indiana report new deaths and and number of infections rises to 170

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/11/meningitis-us-health-authorities-14-000-risk

US fungal meningitis toll rises to 15 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19938899

Are expensive cough mixtures a waste of time? Which? casts doubt on health claims

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2217777/Cough-medicine-Are-expensive-cough-mixtures-waste-time-Which-casts-doubt-health-claims.html#ixzz29PYYpbJr

A US pharmacy was searched by criminal investigators on Tuesday after drugs made at the store were linked to a growing meningitis outbreak that has left 16 dead

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9613875/Pharmacy-raided-over-drug-link-to-growing-US-meningitis-outbreak.html

Meningitis outbreak death toll rises to 23 as reported cases also increase
Nearly two-dozen have died as disease is traced back to fungal contaminate at New England compounding company

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/20/meningitis-outbreak-toll-rises-23

Cancer fight stalls amid push for profits, doctors say
Newer drugs fall short of hopes and cost too much, say experts who pledge to improve care in poorer countries

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/oct/28/targeted-cancer-drugs-expectations-experts

Hundreds of patients had instruments left inside them or surgery on the wrong part of the body as the extent of so-called 'never events' in the NHS was revealed.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9640413/Hundreds-of-patients-subjected-to-NHS-blunders-that-should-never-happen.html

Genetic profiteering: scandal of firm 'hiding vital breast cancer data'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/genetic-profiteering-scandal-of-firm-hiding-vital-breast-cancer-data-8270020.html

How can Viagra maker Pfizer pay no UK tax?
Top executives from leading global firms face questions over their tax affairs by MPs on Monday

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/how-can-viagra-maker-pfizer-pay-no-uk-tax-8301414.html

Cancer patients warned against clinics offering unproven treatments
Warning follows Guardian coverage of patients travelling as far as Mexico and China for ineffective treatment

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/30/cancer-patients-clinics-unproven-treatment

Drug firms bought East German patients to use as human guinea pigs

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/drug-firms-bought-east-german-patients-to-use-as-human-guinea-pigs-8386847.html

Bogus doctor told to pay back £270,000 he 'earned' over 10 years while pretending to be a GP

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2246541/Bogus-doctor-told-pay-270-000-earned-10-years-pretending-GP.html#ixzz2EsnPFFw4

Pharmacy linked to deadly meningitis outbreak files for chapter 11 bankruptcy
New England Compounding Center's filing shields company from creditors while it sets up compensation fund for victims

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/22/pharmacy-meningitis-outbreak-files-bankruptcy

Thalidomide scandal: Twenty cases identified in past five years

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/thalidomide-scandal-twenty-cases-identified-in-past-five-years-8427907.html

Sweeping reforms of the National Health Service will be demanded by a public inquiry into one of the worst scandals in NHS history.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/heal-our-hospitals/9783017/Stafford-Hospital-scandal-deaths-force-NHS-reforms.html

Dangers of toxic hip implants used in Britain kept secret for years

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9840995/Dangers-of-toxic-hip-implants-used-in-Britain-kept-secret-for-years.html

Drug that steals women's lives: It's more addictive than heroin, with horrifying side-effects. So why, 50 years after its launch, is Valium still given to millions?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2289311/Valium-Its-addictive-heroin-horrifying-effects-given-millions.html#ixzz2MtgPCj35

http://www.pharmatimes.com/mobile/13-04-19/UK_pharma_scientist_jailed_over_trial_fraud.aspx

A UK-based pharma scientist has been sentenced to three months in prison for altering pre-clinical trial data designed to support applications to perform human trials.

Steven Eaton was found guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff’s Court in March following a prosecution under the Good Laboratory Practice Regulations 1999 - the first time the MHRA has successfully used these regulations to bring a prosecution.

The case came about when the US pharma firm Aptuit informed the MHRA that they had identified serious irregularities in pre-clinical data generated to support human clinical trials and the registration of new medicines.

The irregularities involved changing or providing false analytical data that would be used to determine the concentration of medicine that could be given to clinical trial subjects used to assess the safety and efficacy of a new medicine.

The MHRA’s investigation into the case found that an Aptuit researcher – Steven Eaton, 47 from Cambridgeshire - had selectively reported analytical data over a number of years, dating back to 2003. Eaton worked at the company’s drug discovery and development site in Riccarton, near Edinburgh, before being found out.

During this period he selectively reported data which was used to assess whether analytical methods were working properly or to assess the concentration of the drug in blood. The data manipulation ensured an experiment was deemed successful when in fact it had failed.

Eaton been working on pre-clinical trials in animals to assess the efficacy of new treatments on behalf of several major drug companies, including AstraZeneca and Roche. Aptuit had been carrying out the work on their behalf.

Sentencing him this week, Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC, said that a three month prison term was the longest sentence he could give Eaton under the Good Laboratory Practice Regulations.

He said: “I feel that my sentencing powers in this are wholly inadequate. You failed to test the drugs properly – you could have caused cancer patients unquestionable harm. Why someone who is as highly educated and as experienced as you would embark on such a course of conduct is inexplicable.”

The MHRA said this Eaton’s actions had wider consequences, and led to the review of many hundreds of safety studies assessing the impact of the data manipulation to ensure that the compromised data was not used in future submissions to relevant authorities without their knowledge.

Gerald Heddell, MHRA’s director of inspection, enforcement and standards said: “Mr Eaton’s actions directly impacted on the validity of clinical trials and delayed a number of medicines coming to market, including one to treat depression. The sentence sends a message that we will not hesitate to prosecute those whose actions have the potential to harm public health.”

Health warning: 100,000 a year dying from taking dodgy medicines bought online
25 Apr 2013 00:00

Desperate patients try to save time and money by purchasing cheap drugs through internet pharmacies rather than waiting to see GPs

http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/health/health-warning-100000-year-dying-1852268#ixzz2RnSROzIu

Exposed: Edward Erin, the doctor whose faked asthma drug test results proved fatal
Fabricated research was not discovered until Edward Erin tried to poison his girlfriend

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/exposed-edward-erin-the-doctor-whose-faked-asthma-drug-test-results-proved-fatal-8662548.html

Pharmaceutical scandal: firms boast of profits on drugs that cost 'pennies’

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10135897/Pharmaceutical-scandal-firms-boast-of-profits-on-drugs-that-cost-pennies.html

NHS chief 'offered bribe to hush up death of my baby': Father's shock at scandal-hit boss's £3,000 cash deal

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2346554/NHS-chief-offered-bribe-hush-death-baby-Fathers-shock-scandal-hit-bosss-3-000-cash-deal.html#ixzz2X2HHQHh3

Unfavourable results from medical trials are being withheld, MPs warn
Practice skews information available to doctors because trials that show new drugs in best light are more likely to be published

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/17/medical-trial-results-withheld-mps-report

China’s pharma scandal and the ethics of the global drug market

http://theconversation.com/chinas-pharma-scandal-and-the-ethics-of-the-global-drug-market-16424

Experts with links to drugs industry 'hyped swine flu'

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/November/Pages/Experts-with-links-to-drugs-industry-hyped-swine-flu.aspx

NHS drugs raid finds medicines diverted into blackmarket: regulator
Fraudsters are infiltrating the NHS drugs supply chain and diverting medicines to street drug dealers and illegal websites, regulators found

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10849721/NHS-drugs-raid-finds-medicines-diverted-into-blackmarket-regulator.html

NHS scandal chiefs launch 'reputation management' firm
Shamed health watchdog chiefs accused of 'sick joke' as they launch new firm advising others on how to protect their reputations

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10934404/NHS-scandal-chiefs-launch-reputation-management-firm.html