David Armstrong is a senior reporter at ProPublica, specializing in health care investigations. He joined ProPublica in March, 2018. Before that, he was a senior enterprise reporter for STAT, where he wrote about abuses in the addiction treatment industry, the rise of fentanyl and the recruiting of college football players with histories of concussions. Armstrong previously worked in the investigative unit at Bloomberg News, where he reported on the overuse of cardiac stents, problematic back surgeries and excesses in the pain industry.
Armstrong was also a reporter for nine years at the Wall Street Journal, where he reported on the influence of pharmaceutical and medical device companies on the practice of medicine – and the resulting harm to patients. He was part of the Journal staff awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news reporting for coverage of the attacks of Sept. 11. Armstrong was a reporter for the Boston Globe from 1993 to 2000, where his investigation of safety flaws in elevators and escalators won a George Polk Award and the Investigative Reporters and Editors award.
A National Institutes of Health database, which we’re making public for the first time, shows that researchers have reported more than 8,000 “significant” financial conflicts, potentially influencing their work.
We have collected more than 37,000 financial disclosures for professors and staff at about 20 public universities and researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. Now, we need your help.
OxyContin’s makers delayed the reckoning for their role in the opioid crisis by funding think tanks, placing friendly experts on leading outlets, and deterring or challenging negative coverage.
Downplaying its role in the opioid epidemic, Purdue Pharma has embraced a federal statistic showing it was a minor player in the pain pill market. But when we took drug potency into account, Purdue’s importance soared.
Sackler testified in 2015 in a lawsuit brought by Kentucky against his family’s company, Purdue Pharma, which makes the painkiller OxyContin. We published the transcript in February. Now you can see the video.
Last September, we examined Dr. Michael Holick’s work as an expert witness for alleged abusers. In the wake of the article, his hospital notified Massachusetts’ medical board that it restricted his privileges.
As OxyContin addiction spurred a national nightmare, a member of the family that has reaped billions of dollars from the painkiller boasted that sales exceeded his “fondest dreams,” according to a secret court document obtained by ProPublica.
Secret portions of a lawsuit allege that Purdue Pharma, controlled by the Sackler family, considered capitalizing on the addiction treatment boom — while going to extreme lengths to boost sales of its controversial opioid.
Dr. David Ayoub used to be active in the anti-vaccination movement. Now he’s challenging mainstream science again — as an expert witness for accused child abusers.
Michael Holick, a renowned scientist turned expert witness, relies on his own controversial theory to help alleged abusers avoid prison and regain custody of the babies they were accused of harming.
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