More Possible Non-Disclosures For Depression In 3-Year-Olds Researcher
On Tuesday I wrote of a possible non-disclosure of pharma monies by Joan Luby, a Washington University psychiatry professor, in an August 2009 paper in the Archives of General Psychiatry. In that paper, which asserted that child as young as three can and do experience chronic depression, Luby appears to have failed to disclose monies she’d received with the last five years from AstraZeneca, Shire and Janssen/J&J.
Luby is interested in more than depression in preschoolers. She has also authored papers on “preschool bipolar disorder,” written that anitpsychotics are a suitable treatment and ranks with Harvard child psychiatrists Joseph Biederman and Washington University’s Barbara Geller as one of the prime proponents of the bipolar child paradigm–a controversial paradigm to say the least.
Now, it’s apparent that she has similar possible disclosure problems with a paper on “Early Childhood Depression” in this month’s American Journal of Psychiatry and with a 2003 paper in the Archives.
At the AJP paper’s end, Luby only notes under disclosures that she receives royalties from a book. While the AJP does not specify any particular time window within which an author must disclose possible conflicts, it does require that authors note relevant conflicts. Seeing as Luby received monies from AstraZeneca, a company that’s quite interested in its antipsychotic Seroquel being used for depression, in 2003 and 2004, it’s baffling that she wouldn’t list the AZ monies as well as monies from Janssen/J&J, another company interested in seeing its antipsychotic, Risperdal, used for depression.
I’ve brought this matter to the attention of the AJP’s editor and the press office at the American Psychiatric Association, which publishes the journal. In addition, I’ve contacted Luby, asking her to account for this apparent discrepancy. None of the parties replied to my requests for comment.
Luby’s paper examines treatment considerations for preschoolers with depression, a controversial assertion even within psychiatry itself. To be fair, Luby isn’t pushing meds for tots in the paper. She discusses psychotherapeutic approaches and states that:
“The use of antidepressant medications is not recommended as a first- or second-line treatment at this time.”
All the same, as wild a claim as toddlers with depression sounds, Luby should be a lot more upfront about to what degree pharma companies may be biasing her assertions.
A December 2003 paper by Luby entitled “Alterations in Stress Cortisol Reactivity in Depressed Preschoolers Relative to Psychiatric and No-Disorder Comparison Groups” raises similar questions. Luby often cites this article in her subsequent work on depression in kiddos as establishing the mechanism of depression in their cases. In the paper, she asserts that she’s detected hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) reactivity in depressed preschoolers. HPA reactivity is far from settled science in establishing a cause of depression.
In this paper, Luby discloses that she’s gotten funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. NARSAD is a non-profit foundation. What Luby fails to disclose is that in 2003 she received monies from AstraZeneca. It’s not clear if she was receiving monies from Shire and Janssen/J&J in 2003 or at any earlier date that would’ve triggered disclosure in the journal.
Nonetheless, it would stand to reason that she should’ve listed the AZ monies on her paper, especially since she was at the same time receiving federal research funding.
I’ve contacted Luby asking her to explain this apparent discrepancy. Luby has not responded to my request for comment.
So far, I’ve heard back from only the AMA’s press office and only to the effect that the AGP’s editor is out until next week. Stay tuned.
BTW, much credit to Jim Edwards at Bnet.com’s Pharma Blog for this all started last week.
Related posts:
- Psych Researcher Who Claimed 3-Year-Olds Get Depression May Have Undisclosed Industry Ties
- American Journal Of Psychiatry Ignores Unreported Conflicts In Its Journal
- Seroquel Gets FDA Approval For Use In 10-Year-Olds
- AMA Journal To Investigate Unreported Conflicts In Article, AJP Silent
- No Answer From Journal, AMA
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