Please see the message below from CALPIRG (Calfornia Public Interest Group), http://www.calpirg.org, and take action! Please also forward this message to those you think might be interested. Thank you!!

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Message below from CALPIRG:

For the last few months, we've been asking you to help us pass the Pharmaceutical Drug Right-to-Know Act, SB 1683. This legislation would have helped prevent another Vioxx tragedy by requiring drug companies to release the results of all their health studies. Unfortunately, due in part to heavy pharmaceutical industry lobbying, the bill did not pass out of the Senate Appropriations committee.

The good news is that we have a new bill that will accomplish the same ends, and even more than ever, we need your help to win. The Pharmaceutical Drug Safety and Information Act, SB 163, will be heard by the Assembly Business and Professions Committee next week. The more support we have for the legislation going into the vote, the better our chances will be.

Please ask your legislators to continue the fight for safe medicine by co-authoring SB 163. Then, ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.

To take action, click on the link below or paste it into your web browser:

http://calpirg.org/CA.asp?id=541&id4=ES



Background:

Consumers and doctors aren't getting the full story about the safety and effectiveness of pharmaceutical products. The consequences are both expensive and tragic:

* Merck, the manufacturer of Vioxx, continued to heavily market the painkiller to doctors and patients for years after the company had substantial evidence that Vioxx significantly increased the risk of serious heart problems. When doctors started asking about safety studies, Merck sales reps were given a manual with a one-word instruction for responding - "DODGE!" FDA researchers estimate that, in less than 5 years, Vioxx may have caused as many as 139,000 heart attacks and strokes. Up to 40% of those patients - roughly 55,000 Americans - died from heart attacks and strokes caused by Vioxx.

* GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of the anti-depressant Paxil, conducted several studies showing that the drug was not effective at treating depression in children. As far back as 1997, the company had information that adolescent usage could actually increase the risk of suicidal behavior. Rather than revealing those tests to doctors and the public, the company continued to promote the drug's "remarkable efficacy and safety in the treatment of adolescent depression." The data eventually were made public in December 2004 not by the company but by ABC News. In the mean time, parents and insurers paid high prices for ineffective medication and children were needlessly exposed to a serious risk.

While these are two of the most public examples of the problem, data suppression and manipulation are all too commonplace within the industry.

Requiring companies to publish all health studies they have sponsored for drugs they sell in California evens the playing field for companies, medical professionals and patients. Registration on the established and best-known federal clinical trials website makes the information readily searchable by and accessible to doctors, patients and researchers alike.

Both the American Medical Association and the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors have endorsed the idea of mandatory registration for all clinical trials, but the federal government has not acted on this issue. As one of the largest pharmaceutical markets in the world, California is uniquely positioned to take the national lead on this issue in the absence of federal action.

SB 163 requires pharmaceutical companies to release the results of all clinical trials they have conducted for every FDA-approved medicine they sell in California. The information would be available to medical professionals and the public through the federal website http://www.clinicaltrials.gov

Please ask your legislators to continue the fight for safe medicine by co-authoring this important bill. Then, ask your family and friends to help by forwarding this e-mail to them.

To take action, click on the link below or paste it into your web browser:

http://calpirg.org/CA.asp?id=541&id4=ES

Sincerely,

Steve Blackledge

CALPIRG Legislative Director

SteveB@calpirg.org

http://www.CALPIRG.org