Fluoxetine (Prozac), a terrible drug, Peter Gotzsche, MD

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Thursday, February 04, 2016 3:15 am Email this article

“The SSRIs are pretty terrible drugs and patients aren’t too happy taking them. But doctors choose to ignore how bad these pills are,” writes Prof. Peter C. Gøtzsche, MD in Chapter 3 Depression of his excellent book Deadly Psychiatry and Organised Denial.

“When the first best-selling SSRI, fluoxetine [Prozac], appeared in the late 1980s, there was no doubt about it. Senior management in Eli Lilly wanted to shelve it after having considered to market it for eating disorders, but Lilly was in serious financial trouble and had to make it a success,” Prof. Gøtzsche continues.

“Initially, the FDA was sceptical and noted serious flaws in Lilly’s trials.

“An FDA officer wrote in 1984 that patients who didn’t do well after two weeks had their code broken, and if they were on placebo, they were switched to fluoxeine.

“In this way, six weeks of fluoxetine was compared to two weeks on placebo, which is a hopelessly flawed comparison and, with the blinding broken, more bias was introduced.

“It also turned out that 25% of the patients had taken an additional drug, and when the FDA in 1985 removed patients on other drugs from Lilly’s trials, there was no significant effect of fluoxetine.

“By adding benzodiazepines, Lilly broke the rules for its trials but didn’t inform the FDA, and when the FDA later learned about it, the agency permitted it and thereby broke its own rules.

“The public and the doctors were never informed about this ruse.

“The FDA went to extremes to make it look like fluoxetine worked.

“Perhaps the fact that Lilly is an American company played a role.

“Fluoxetine was approved when Bush senior was president and he had been a member of the board of directors of Lilly.

“Vice President Dan Quayle was from Indiana where Lilly’s headquarters are, and he had former Lilly personnel on his own staff and sat on an FDA oversight committee.

“The German drug regulator found fluoxetine ‘totally unsuitable for the treatment of depression,’ and furthermore noted that according to the patients’ self-ratings there was little or no response, in contrast to doctors’ ratings.”

Other Quotes from This Book

Other quotes from Prof. Gotzsche’s book

Other quotes from Prof. Gotzsche’s book can be found here.

Other Comments from Prof. Gotzsche

Other Comments from Prof. Gotzsche found here

Other comments by Prof. Gotzsche (which includes other quotes from this book) can be found here.

A Must-Read Book

This is a must-read book for anyone interested in psychiatric drugs

For anyone interested in psychiatric drugs, this is a must-read book.

Anyone who thinks that psychiatric drugs are safe and effective must read this book.

Anyone who thinks that you can believe the published research about these drugs must read this book.

Anyone who thinks that you can believe what the American Psychiatric Association says about these drugs must read this book.

Anyone who thinks that you can believe what the US National Institutes of Mental Health says about these drugs must read this book.

Anyone who thinks that you can believe what the FDA says about the safety of these drugs must read this book.

My Mother Suffered Tragically From These Drugs

Larry’s mother suffered tragically from psychiatric drugs

My mother (Larry Hobbs’s mother) suffered tragically from psychiatric drugs, so this topic is of great interest to me.

About the Peter C. Gøtzsche, MD

Professor Peter C. Gøtzsche graduated as a Master of Science in biology and chemistry in 1974 and as a physician in 1984. He is a specialist in internal medicine; worked in the drug industry 1975-83, and at hospitals in Copenhagen 1984-95. With about 80 others, he helped start The Cochrane Collaboration in 1993 with the founder, Sir Iain Chalmers, and established The Nordic Cochrane Centre the same year. He became professor of Clinical Research Design and Analysis in 2010 at the University of Copenhagen.

Gøtzsche has published more than 70 papers in “the big five” (BMJ, Lancet, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine and New England Journal of Medicine) and his scientific works have been cited over 15,000 times.

Other articles about Prof. Peter Gotzsche, MD

Benzodiazepines as sleeping pills, do more harm than good, Peter Gotzsche, MD 

If you ask me, no one should take antidepressants, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Fluoxetine (Prozac), a terrible drug, Peter Gotzsche, MD 

3 False Epidemics: ADHD, Autism and Childhood Bipolar Disorder, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Likely to have been 15 times more suicides on antidepressant than reported by FDA, Peter Gotzsche MD

Survey found 60% felt emotional numb on antidepressants says Peter Gotzsche, MD

Psychiatry Has Spiraled Out of Control, Peter Gotzsche, MD 

1% of US children up to only four years of age are on psychotropic drugs, Peter Gotzsche, MD

It Should Be Forbidden To Make a Second Diagnosis While Someone Is On Drugs, Peter Gotzsche, MD 

All Psychiatric Diagnoses and Interventions Can Cause Harm, Peter Gotzsche, MD

Screening for Depression is Harmful, Peter Gotzsche, MD 

Many People Are Wrongly Diagnosed With Schizophrenia, Peter Gotzsche, MD

One-Fourth of Healthy People [Wrongly] Got A Psychiatric Diagnosis, Peter Gotzsche, MD 

Risk of suicide caused by SSRI’s grossly underestimated, Peter Gotzsche, MD 

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