Harvard's Biederman: "Save Me From NYT's Gardiner Harris!"
Dr. Joseph Biederman, the controversial Harvard child psychiatrist who promoted the use of Johnson & Johnson’s Risperdal antipsychotic in children, is begging a New Jersey judge to save him from New York Times reporter Gardiner Harris.
Harris also sucks as a reporter, Biederman alleges in a letter to the judge, reproduced by the IN VIVO blog.
On March 17, Harris sent Beiderman an email regarding his work for J&J, requesting information. (Harris published a story March 19 suggesting that Biederman had decided before the study began that its results would “support” Risperdal.)
On the same day, Biederman’s lawyers wrote to Judge Jamie Happas:
Mr. Harris’s email highlights the national media’s ongoing interest in Dr. Biederman and his need for the Court’s protection. Mr. Harris has previously published poorly researched accusations against Dr. Biederman in the New York Times. These accusations publicly embarrassed Dr. Biederman and, in part, led to an agreement to forestall contact with pharmaceutical companies.
Additionally, this email further highlights the need for the Court to affirmatively protect Dr. Biederman’s pre-trial discovery information.
Biederman has been deposed as a witness in a series of cases in which state attorneys general allege that J&J improperly marketed their medicines. He is also the subject of a Senate investigation into whether he failed to disclose the money he took from drug companies when conducting research, which is a violation of federal research rules.
His fear of Harris is odd, since Biederman also told a deposition that he was one step below God in the Harvard professor rankings.
- See BNET’s previous coverage of J&J and Risperdal:
- J&J Fined $5,000 Per Sales Rep Visit for Risperdal Mismarketing
- Risperdal Payments Result in Conviction for State Meds Official
- J&J and Risperdal: New Claims of Kickbacks and Fraudulent Marketing
- FDA: J&J’s Risperdal and Lilly’s Zyprexa Are Over-Used in Kids
- The Money Trail in the J&J Risperdal/Biederman Case
Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.
BNET User Analysis