Tag: big pharma

More High Blood Pressure Drugs Recalled Due to Potential Carcinogens, FDA Says

The Food and Drug Administration confirmed in several notices that a recall of a type of high blood pressure medication has been expanded due to the presence of a potentially carcinogenic substance.

In three noticesissued this week, the FDA confirmed that 7,198 cartons of prazosin hydrochloride are being recalled nationwide by Ohio-based Amerisource Health Services and classified the recall as Class II.

N-nitroso prazosin, a nitrosamine found in the medication, is above the FDA’s acceptable limits, according to the FDA. Nitrosamines are a type of organic compound that is a potential human carcinogen that can form in food or other substances.

A Class II recall is considered by the FDA to be a serious but less severe product safety recall for a product that may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or if there is a remote chance of a serious adverse health consequence associated with the item.

Latest Drugs Under Recall

The three items are:

  • Prazosin Hydrochloride capsules USP in 1-milligram doses in 100-capsule (10×10) cartons, which are distributed by American Health Packaging. It has a Carton NDC of 68084-996-01, and it has individual unit doses of NDC 68084-996-11.
  • Prazosin Hydrochloride capsules USP in 2-milligram doses in 100-capsule (10×10) cartons, which are distributed by American Health Packaging. It has a Carton NDC of 68084-997-01, and it has individual unit doses of NDC 68084-997-11.
  • Prazosin Hydrochloride capsules USP in 5-milligram doses in 20-capsule (5×4) cartons, which are distributed by American Health Packaging. It has a Carton NDC of 60687-572-32, and it has individual unit doses of NDC 60687-572-33.

The FDA did not include any other information about the recalled items, including whether people should continue taking them. In numerous previous recalls for products that contain elevated nitrosamine levels, the FDA has generally advised people to continue taking the prescription medication.

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FDA’s top drug regulator resigns after federal officials probe ‘serious concerns’

The head of the Food and Drug Administration’s drug center abruptly resigned Sunday after federal officials began reviewing “serious concerns about his personal conduct,” according to a government spokesperson.

Dr. George Tidmarsh, who was named to the FDA post in July, was placed on leave Friday after officials in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of General Counsel were notified of the issues, HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard said in an email. Tidmarsh then resigned Sunday morning.

“Secretary Kennedy expects the highest ethical standards from all individuals serving under his leadership and remains committed to full transparency,” Hilliard said.

The departure came the same day that a drugmaker connected to one of Tidmarsh’s former business associates filed a lawsuit alleging that he made “false and defamatory statements,” during his time at the FDA.

The lawsuit, brought by Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, alleges that Tidmarsh used his FDA position to pursue a “longstanding personal vendetta” against the chair of the company’s board of directors, Kevin Tang.

Tang previously served as a board member of several drugmakers where Tidmarsh was an executive, including La Jolla Pharmaceutical, and was involved in his ouster from those leadership positions, according to the lawsuit.

Messages placed to Tidmarsh and his lawyer were not immediately returned late Sunday.

Tidmarsh founded and led a series of pharmaceutical companies over several decades working in California’s pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Before joining the FDA, he also served as an adjunct professor at Stanford University. He was recruited to join the agency over the summer after meeting with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.

Tidmarsh’s ouster is the latest in a string of haphazard leadership changes at the agency, which has been rocked for months by firings, departures and controversial decisions on vaccines, fluoride and other products.

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The Trust We Lost: How the DEA Broke Medicine’s Moral Backbone

A Continuation of the Chronic Pain Series

Once upon a time, trust helped define medicine.

When reassurance from your doctor was a hand on your shoulder, not risk; when telling the truth about pain, medication, and the limits of endurance didn’t make you a suspect.

I hate typing this, but those days are gone, and in their place stands a system built on fear, suspicion, and the quiet collapse of compassion.

What you’ll be reading isn’t isolated cries from the dark; these stories are proof of what happens when bureaucracy replaces any judgment from the bedside and when the war on opioids becomes a war on the sick.

Fear Behind the Mask

Incognito, asking to remain anonymous for reasons far too common:

Isn’t that disgusting that we have to live in fear over this? Doctors are suspicious of patients, patients are suspicious of doctors, and pharmacists are suspicious of both. The people who don’t understand will throw “pharma shill” and “junkie” at us for speaking about this very real situation. I have been in this fight for about 10 years, and it keeps getting worse. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but more people need to speak up. 

Incognito’s story stretches back to a childhood illness and a body that betrayed her early, followed by a system that later betrayed her. Nothing major, just pneumonia at six weeks, rheumatic fever at 10, a herniated disc at 14, and years of sciatica after that. She did, through it all, what Americans have been taught to do: work hard, stay tough, and trust that the promise of medicine was solid.

After years of dismissals, she finally received an adhesive arachnoiditis diagnosis, finding herself in the care of one of the few specialists still willing to treat patients targeted by regulators. Even after being hounded for daring to practice compassion, she said, “God sent me an angel.”

The fear she held was vivid.

The addiction industry and the mass tort lawyers, with the help of some NGOs and others, have made torturing us their favorite gig. I was terrified of becoming addicted. I asked my husband to tell me if I showed signs… that never happened.

She did one thing wrong, something that hasn’t even been considered—not once—a crime of trust. That trust, once sacred between doctor and patient, was turned against her.

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Lawsuit Targeting Decades-Old Journal Article Triggers Renewed Scrutiny of Fraudulent Scientific Studies

A lawsuit demanding the retraction of a decades-old peer-reviewed article that claimed the antidepressant paroxetine, sold as Paxil, is safe and effective has put the issue of fraud in scientific and medical journals back in the spotlight, Paul D. Thacker wrote today in The Disinformation Chronicle.

The lawsuit, filed last month against the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and its publisher, Elsevier, demands the retraction of a 2001 article in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (JAACAP).

The article was based on Study 329, which the suit claims distorted data to claim Paxil was effective.

The complaint alleges that JAACAP editors and Elsevier refused to retract the article “in an apparent attempt to shield at least five of the … authors who are prominent members of the AACAP from possible ramifications of retraction.”

Study 329 was ghostwritten by Paxil manufacturer GSK — which Thacker discussed in a 2011 report he republished today.

Several of the journal article’s co-authors worked for GSK or went on to hold key positions within the AACAP.

According to Thacker, one of the co-authors, Stan Kutcher, is now a member of the Canadian Senate and co-founded “Science Up First,” an initiative that purportedly targets scientific “misinformation.”

During a roundtable discussion on the weaponization of science that the MAHA Institute organized last week, Thacker cited Study 329 as an example of fraud in scientific and medical publishing.

Brian Hooker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for Children’s Health Defense, spoke at the roundtable. He said the discussion, in which “panelists described horror stories of their own scientific research under attack through targeted retractions of papers, denial of research funding, and disciplinary actions,” was “stunning.” He added:

“There is a huge cost in falling out of line with established institutions in science and medicine, whether corporate, university or private organizations. And these highly credentialed panelists paid a huge cost for ‘doing the right thing’ in exposing malfeasance and bad science.”

Research scientist and author James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D., also participated in the roundtable. He said it “explored how science-like activities have been systematically re-engineered to serve political and corporate interests rather than truth.” He said:

“Study 329 exemplifies the collapse of accountability that follows when industry, regulators and journals form a closed feedback loop of self-validation. What’s marketed as ‘misinformation control’ today is often a continuation of that same pattern — protecting narratives, not people.”

‘One of the best documented case studies of corruption in modern biomedicine’

Study 329, completed in 1998 and funded by GSK, revealed serious safety risks — including suicidal behavior — associated with Paxil. Later studies confirmed those risks.

However, the study showed a few minor positive results that suggested possible efficacy, as it met 15% of the outcomes the researchers had initially said would prove Paxil’s effectiveness.

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Blood Pressure Medication Recalled Due to Possible Carcinogens

More than 580,000 bottles of blood pressure medication are being recalled across the United States due to possible carcinogenic substances, according to a notice from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The recall involves three separate lots of prazosin hydrochloride, a type of alpha-blocking medication, that were distributed by New Jersey-based Teva Pharmaceuticals, because a test result for N-nitroso Prazosin impurity C found that the substance’s levels are above the “acceptable intake limit” under a type of test for carcinogens.

The recall encompasses three dosages for prazosin hydrochloride capsules, according to the notice. They include 181,659 bottles of 1-milligram doses of the drug, 291,512 bottles of 2-milligram doses, and 107,673 bottles of 5-milligram doses.

It means that the medication contained higher than acceptable levels of nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic compounds that can increase the risk of cancer when taken at high doses over long periods.

The FDA classified the recall on Oct. 24 as Class II, which the agency says is a scenario where a product, drug, or food “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences” or it includes “an outcome where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.”

The medication bottles were distributed nationwide, it said. The recall, which was initiated voluntarily by Teva Pharmaceuticals, started on Oct. 7.

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Dallas Doctor Surrenders License After Texas AG Sues For Prescribing Gender Transition Drugs To Minors

A Dallas-based doctor has surrendered her medical license following a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2024, accusing her of illegally prescribing gender transition drugs to minors.

Paxton announced on Oct. 24 that Dr. May C. Lau has given up her state medical license but that the legal case over her alleged violation of Texas’s ban on gender transition treatment for minors is still ongoing.

“May Lau has done untold damage to children, both physically and psychologically, and the surrendering of her Texas medical license is a major victory for our state,” Paxton said in a statement.

“My case against her for breaking the law will continue, and we will not relent in holding anyone who tries to ‘transition’ kids accountable.”

Records from the Texas Medical Board indicate that Lau’s medical license was “canceled by request” earlier this month.

Her attorney did not respond by publication time to a request for comment.

The lawsuit, filed by the state of Texas in October 2024, alleged that Lau prescribed high-dose cross-sex hormones to 21 minors for the purpose of gender transitioning.

The case falls under Senate Bill 14, a law that took effect in September 2023 and was upheld by the Texas Supreme Court in June 2024. The legislation prohibits gender transition medical procedures for minors, including surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.

The law also mandates that the Texas Medical Board shall revoke the medical license or other authorization to practice medicine of a physician who violates its provisions.

According to the lawsuit, Lau allegedly prescribed testosterone, which is a controlled substance, to female minors as part of treatments intended to alter their gender or affirm a gender identity different from their biological sex.

The lawsuit further alleged that Lau falsified medical and billing records “to mislead pharmacies, insurance providers, and/or patients” into believing the testosterone prescriptions were for other medical reasons.

Lau entered into a Rule 11 agreement with the state of Texas earlier this year, which prohibits her from practicing medicine on patients entirely while the case is still ongoing.

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Why Does Tylenol Cause Chronic Illnesses Like Autism?

The Presidential Announcement

September 22, 2025, President Trump held a press conference about the potential causes of autism. Shortly beforehand, the press became aware that Trump would focus on the link between Tylenol and autism, resulting in the national media collectively ridiculing that link immediately before the press conference.

In that press conference, Trump stated he had felt very strongly about bringing attention to vaccines and autism for 20 years, that he felt we were giving too many shots too quickly, and that they needed to be spaced out. There was no reason to give the hepatitis B vaccine prior to children being 12 (which, as I showed here, is true), and Tylenol increases the risk of autism, so if possible, it should be avoided during pregnancy, and you should not give it to infants.

Secretary Kennedy added that some 40% to 70% of mothers who have children with autism believe a vaccine injured their child, and that President Trump believes we should be listening to these mothers instead of gaslighting them.

Note: Regrettably, to show they believed in “Science,” pregnant mothers began quickly posting videos of themselves taking large amounts of Tylenol (which I compiled on 𝕏 here — including one tragic overdose1).

Over-the-Counter Pain Management

Because of how uncomfortable pain is, pain treatments have long been a core market in medicine. Remarkably, however, most standard pain therapies have serious issues and often lead patients to needing more and more severe interventions.

Typically, the first-line treatment for pain is an over-the-counter medication, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin), naproxen (Aleve), aspirin, or topical diclofenac (Voltaren gel). Unfortunately, these medications all have dose-dependent toxicity and typically only elicit partial improvement in pain. Many consider NSAIDs (ibuprofen and naproxen) among the most hazardous drugs in the U.S. because:

•They are the leading cause of drug-related hospital admissions — Often due to heart attacks, strokes, bleeding, and kidney failure2 (e.g., at least 107,000 Americans are admitted to hospitals each year for NSAID GI bleeds).3

•Kidney damage is a significant risk — One study found a 20% increased risk of kidney disease from NSAIDs;4 others found up to 212%.5 Amongst kidney failure patients, 65.7% were found to be chronic NSAID users.6

•NSAIDs raise cardiovascular risks — NSAIDs also increase the risk of heart attacks and death (e.g., extensive studies have found between a 24% to 326% increase7,8,9). Two of the worst ones, Vioxx (Merck)10 and Celebrex (Pfizer),11 were designed to reduce stomach bleeding but instead caused heart attacks and strokes.

Merck hid data on Vioxx’s risks; eventually it was withdrawn after an estimated 120,000 deaths.12 Celebrex, still on the market, has been linked to 75,000 deaths.13 Merck’s handling of Vioxx14 later informed how pharma pushed the HPV vaccine and mRNA vaccines.15

•Gastrointestinal bleeding is common and often fatal — In 1999, over 16,000 Americans died from it.16 NSAIDs also cause small bowel damage in over 50% of chronic users17 — often undetected — leading to “small bowel enteropathy” and possibly chronic illness through gut permeability.18

•They impair healing, especially of ligaments, creating long-term re-injury risk.19

Note: The dangers of NSAIDs are discussed further here.

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The Dark Side of Modern Medicine

A Century of Missteps, Manipulations, and Misdeeds. Medicine must be reclaimed as a public good, not a marketplace of manipulation.

The past century has seen astonishing medical advances, from antibiotics to organ transplants and precision diagnostics. Yet behind the celebrated breakthroughs lies a shadowed record of harm, deceit, and systemic failure.

The history of modern medicine is not only a story of progress but also one of unethical experimentation, corporate manipulation, regulatory capture, and public betrayal. I have witnessed this firsthand in my own career: when I proposed nutritional medicine approaches to prevention and early treatment, I was attacked by medical boards, chastised by medical colleges and silenced by bureaucracies beholden to pharmaceutical interests.

My work on vitamin C, cancer, and AIDS brought harassment from authorities, culminating in legal battles I was forced to fight—and win in the Supreme Court —at great personal cost. During the COVID-19 pandemic, my pleas to government leaders to adopt simple, life-saving measures like vitamin D, C and zinc were ignored, while experimental genetic injections were pushed on the public without transparency or informed consent.

Over decades I have seen colleagues censured, evidence suppressed, and patients left to suffer—all because profit and political control took precedence over genuine health and healing. Its still happening and patients are dying unnecessarily from the turbo cancers caused by the mRNA vaccines.

The pattern begins with unethical human experimentation and consent failures. In certain landmark cases over the past decades we find medical science mis-stepping into exploitation — from the decades-long denial of treatment in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, to more recent oversight-failures in clinical trials in low-income countries when pharmaceutical firms prioritised expedience over ethics.

I have observed similar dynamics in my own work: when simple nutritional protocols were sidelined, when investigative treatment options were blocked on the grounds of “non-standard care”, even though patient welfare was at stake, and when regulatory and board actions were taken not for patient safety but to suppress dissenting therapeutic voices.

Next comes the distortion of data, selective reporting and publication bias. The re-analysis of Study 329 revealed that the antidepressant paroxetine was neither safe nor effective in adolescents, despite original favourable publications.

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Smoke, Mirrors, and the Pfizer Deal

Iam a mother. I have never been vaccinated myself. I believe deeply in informed consent. And I want to say clearly that I am hopeful about Bobby’s leadership at HHS. I want to believe that he can bring real transparency and accountability to a government that has too often cozied up to the corporations it is supposed to regulate.

But when I read the headlines about Trump’s “landmark” deal with Pfizer, I don’t feel hopeful. I feel misled.

We are told that Pfizer has committed $70 billion to research, development, and production here in the United States. That sounds impressive, like a historic victory for the American people. But the truth is, Pfizer already spends billions every year on research and development. That is simply the business they are in. Without that constant pipeline, they do not survive.

So what is really new here? Nothing at all. It is the same budget they were already going to spend, repackaged and sold as a bold new commitment. The difference now is that Pfizer gets something in return: tariff relief, political cover, and a government-backed direct-to-consumer program called TrumpRx.

That is what makes this deal so frustrating. Pfizer is not changing its behavior. They are not suddenly sacrificing profits or doing more for patients. They are being rewarded for business as usual, only now with added advantages that strengthen their market position even more. And we are being asked to celebrate it as if it is some great victory for ordinary families.

Every producer wants to cut out the middleman. I know this from my own life. As a meat producer, I do not want to pay one. As a vegetable producer, I do not want to pay one. As a content creator, I do not want to pay one. Nobody does. And now Pfizer, of all companies, is getting the official blessing of the US government to do exactly that.

This is the same Pfizer that misled the public during Covid. That is not a rumor, it is documented. Whistleblowers from trial sites described falsified records, patients who were not properly followed up after adverse events, and unqualified staff handling sensitive data. State attorneys general have accused Pfizer of downplaying serious risks, including heart inflammation in young men and pregnancy complications in women. 

Kansas has even claimed the company hid internal studies that showed risks while telling the public something different. And the most central promise of all, that the vaccines would stop transmission, simply was not true, even though the marketing never caught up to that reality.

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Is Your Medication Made in a Contaminated Factory? The FDA Won’t Tell You.

They were the sort of disturbing discoveries that anyone taking generic medication would want to know.

At one Indian factory manufacturing drugs for the United States, pigeons infested a storage room and defecated on boxes of sterilized equipment. At another, pathogens contaminated purified water used to produce drugs. At a third, stagnant urine pooled on a bathroom floor not far from where injectable medication was made.

But when the Food and Drug Administration released the grim inspection reports and hundreds of others like them, the agency made a decision that undermined its mission to protect Americans from dangerous drugs.

Instead of sharing the names of the medications coming from the errant foreign factories, the FDA routinely blacked them out, keeping the information secret from the public. That decision prevented doctors, pharmacists and patients from knowing whether the drugs they counted on were tainted by manufacturing failures — and potentially ineffective or unsafe.

“Is there some quality issue? Is there a greater difference in potency than expected? Is there a contaminant? I don’t know,” said Dr. Donna Kirchoff, a pediatrician in Oregon who has spent hours trying to find out where certain drugs were made for patients reporting unexplained reactions.

There’s no specific requirement that the FDA block out drug names on inspection reports about foreign facilities. Still, the agency preemptively kept that information hidden, invoking a cautious interpretation of a law that requires the government to protect trade secrets.

It’s part of a decades-long pattern of discounting the interests of consumers who want to make informed choices about the drugs they take — even as 9 out of 10 prescriptions in the United States are filled with generics, many from India and China.

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