Statements by Pat and Ben Christen Concerning Petition to Require FDA to Start Regulating the Content of Patient Information Leaflets for rescription Drugs Delivered at Public Citizen Press Conference
Statements by Pat and Ben Christen
Concerning Petition to Require FDA to Start Regulating the
Content of Patient Information Leaflets for Prescription Drugs
Delivered at Public Citizen Press Conference
June 9, 1998
Ben Christen:
We found out the hard way that you cannot rely on your doctor or pharmacist. These take-home sheets were our only hope, we found out , and there was no section on the most severe toxic side effects. We learned after Cory died that the serious toxic effects were well known to doctors and pharmacists and were published in the medical literature, but nobody told us.
We learned that the warnings company had a policy to disclose toxic effects. Nobody enforced the policy. We are here asking the FDA to use its power to regulate these companies who profit by selling these sheets, so that this doesn?t happen to anyone else.
Pat Christen:
[Photo] This is our son, Cory. He liked sports. He was very smart and loving. He had ADHD. He would still be here today if we had received the proper warning, instead of the warning sheets that we did get for imipramine.
We kept those sheets, took them home, and referred to them. There was never a warning about the most dangerous toxic effects. The sheets gave us a false sense of security.
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