Free Republic

16-Year Old Boy Received Unsolicited Prozac in the MailBy Theresa Agovino The Associated PressPublished: Jul 19, 2002 NEW YORK (AP) - A 16-year-old boy was among southern Florida residents who received unsolicited samples of the antidepressant drug Prozac in the mail in a much-criticized and highly unorthodox marketing campaign. "I was livid," said the boy's mother, Sue Grinstead of Palm Beach. "My son knew enough not to take it, but what about the other kids?" A spokesman for the Walgreen Co. drugstore chain, Michael Polzin, confirmed the family's account that a month's supply of Prozac was sent to 16-year-old Michael...

June 15, 2002 | 11:42 AM The Wacky Dr. Waksal by Frank DiGiacomo and Ian Blecher On Dec. 5, 2001, ImClone Systems, a biotech company that was seeking Food and Drug Administration approval for a promising anti-cancer drug called Erbitux, saw its stock peak at a price of $74 a share and begin an earthward trajectory. On the evening of Dec. 6, ImClone’s chief executive, Sam Waksal, 54, threw his annual Christmas party at the 5,000-square-foot Thompson Street loft that he calls home. Daily News owner Mort Zuckerman was in attendance, as well as former New York Times executive editor...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Therapy is at least as effective in treating depression as drugs are, and its effects last longer, scientists said on Thursday in a report sure to annoy drug companies that make millions selling antidepressants. The cost of therapy is about the same as drugs short-term, and cheaper over the long term, the researchers told a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. "This will be a surprising, controversial finding for many psychiatric professionals," Robert DeRubeis, chair of the psychology department at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement. "Most believe quite strongly in the efficacy of medication,...

In a perfect world, a list like this would not exist. In a perfect world, businesses would be run with the utmost integrity and competence. But ours is, alas, an imperfect world, and if we must live in one where Enron, Geraldo Rivera, and Cottonelle Fresh Rollwipes exist, the least we can do is catalog the absurdities. 1. Houston, We Have a Problem, Part 1: Enron states billions of dollars in extra revenue through aggressive accounting and complicated off-the-books partnerships managed by its own executives, all the while ignoring warnings from its employees and enriching its top executives at the...