Harvard Child Psychiatrist Worked Closely With J&J

Gardiner Harris of the New York Times has done it again. In a piece just out on the paper's website, he details emails and other documents from an ongoing lawsuit against J&J over the use of its antipsychotic Risperdal in kids, which offers insight into how Joseph Biederman, a Harvard child psychiatrist, worked J&J for money. Biederman is of course the godfather of the whole pediatric bipolar disorder (aka, child bipolar disorder) business. The details are stunning.

"[E]-mails and internal documents from Johnson & Johnson made public in a court filing reveal that Dr. Biederman pushed the company to fund a research center at Massachusetts General Hospital whose goal was 'to move forward the commercial goals of J&J,' the documents state. The documents also show that Johnson & Johnson wrote a draft summary of a study that Dr. Biederman, of Harvard University, was said to author."

Keep in mind that this is the researcher whose science the FDA said it was leaning upon when it decided that pediatric bipolar disorder was a valid diagnosis back in July.

"In one November 1999 e-mail, John Bruins, a Johnson & Johnson marketing executive, begs his supervisors to approve a $3,000 check to Dr. Biederman in payment for a lecture he gave at the University of Connecticut.

"'Dr. Biederman is not someone to jerk around,' Mr. Bruins wrote. 'He is a very proud national figure in child psych and has a very short fuse.'

"Mr. Bruins wrote that Dr. Biederman was furious after Johnson & Johnson rejected a request that Dr. Biederman had made to receive a $280,000 research grant. 'I have never seen someone so angry,' Mr. Bruins wrote. 'Since that time, our business became non-existant (sic) within his area of control.'

"Mr. Bruins concluded that, unless Dr. Biederman received a check soon, 'I am truly afraid of the consequences.'"

Sounds like Biederman is an adult version of the little boys he urges Americans to medicate.

But wait, there's more:

"A series of documents described the goals behind establishing the Johnson & Johnson Center for the study of pediatric psychopathology, for which Dr. Biederman still serves as chief.

"A 2002 annual report for the center stated that its research must satisfy three criteria: improve psychiatric care for children, have high standards and 'move forward the commercial goals of J&J,' according to court documents.

"'We strongly believe that the center’s systematic scientific inquiry will enhance the clinical and research foundation of child psychiatry and lead to the safer, more appropriate and more widespread use of medications in children,' the report stated. 'Without such data, many clinicians question the wisdom of aggressively treating children with medications, especially those like neuroleptics [ie, antipsychotics], which expose children to potentially serious adverse events.'"

More:

"A February 2002 e-mail from Georges Gharabawi, a Johnson & Johnson executive, stated that Dr. Biederman approached the company 'multiple times to propose the creation' of the center. 'The rationale of this center is to generate and disseminate data supporting the use of risperidone in' children and adolescents, the e-mail stated.

"Johnson & Johnson gave the center $700,000 in 2002 alone, documents show."

And apparently Biederman was willing to slap his name on a ginned-up study of Risperdal in kids:

"A June 2002 e-mail from Dr. Gahan Pandina, a Johnson & Johnson executive, to Dr. Biederman included a brief abstract of a study of Risperdal in children suffering disruptive behavior disorder. The study was intended to be presented at the 2002 annual meeting of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the e-mail stated.

"'We have generated a review abstract, but I must review this longer abstract before passing this along,' Dr. Pandina wrote. One problem with the study, Dr. Pandina wrote, is that the children given placebos and those given Risperdal both improved significantly, 'so, if you could, please give some thought to how to handle this issue if it occurs.'

"The draft abstract that Dr. Pandina included in the e-mail, however, stated that only the children given Risperdal improved, while those given placebos did not. Dr. Pandina asked Dr. Biederman to sign a form listing himself as author so the company could present the study to the conference, according to the e-mail.

"'I will review this morning,' Dr. Biederman responded, according to the documents. 'I will be happy to sign the forms if you could kindly send them to me.' The documents do not make clear whether Dr. Biederman approved the final summary of the brief abstract in similar form or asked to read the longer report on the study."

Biederman is the gift that keeps on giving. I wonder what apologists for the bipolar kids paradigm make of these revelations.