BC - Dismissed Researcher Made Shocking Drug Finding

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Dismissed Researcher Made Shocking Drug Finding

[ http://thetyee.ca/News/2015/03/25/Dismi ... ign=250315 ]

Warburton says 60,000 people who take medication will die prematurely.

By Andrew MacLeod, March 25, 2015 TheTyee.ca

Bill Warburton, whose health ministry contract was cancelled in 2012 amid a spate of firings, says his research that used data from British Columbia patients shows that about 60,000 people now taking anti-psychotic drugs will die prematurely.

The finding is one example of the public interest research that came to an abrupt end due to a botched health ministry investigation, Warburton said. [ http://thetyee.ca/News/2014/12/19/Healt ... gs-Review/ ]

In a phone interview, he noted that his research shows there is a two per cent increase in mortality for people who use second generation anti-psychotic medication to treat depression, a "huge increase," he said.

More than three million people take the drugs, he added.

"There are 60,000 people who are going to die needlessly because they haven't been warned of the side effects of these drugs," said Warburton, a health economist, who in late February presented his findings to a seminar at the University of Victoria.

Prior to the abrupt dismissal, Warburton had access to medical data from millions of B.C. patients and enjoyed many opportunities to present his research to the government for use in health policy. Now those opportunities are gone.

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