Restrictions on Access
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Preferred Citation
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Processing Information
General note
Biography/History
Scope and Content
Organization and Arrangement
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Related Material
Title: David Healy papers
Collection number: Biomed 433
Contributing Institution:
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections for the Sciences
History and Special Collections Division for the Sciences
Language of Material: English
Physical Description:
13.2 linear ft.
(35 document boxes and 1 record carton box)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1978-2000
Date (inclusive): 1950-2001
Abstract: The David Healy Papers collection consists of a draft of David Healy’s monograph and all associated interview transcripts/supplementary
materials from his published oral history of psychopharmacology (
The Psychopharmacologists, Vols. I-III). It also contains research and testimony from multiple legal cases on pharmaceutical product liability concerning
the treatment of depression, including specific arguments about the pharmaceutical industry’s knowledge of the relationships
between Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and suicide. The collection’s legal materials include raw data from
fluoxetine’s clinical trials, which occurred while the product was seeking FDA approval, before it was launched in the U.S.
in 1988. These data show the co-prescription of benzodiazepines during Randomized Control Trials to counteract the activating
properties of fluoxetine. Pertinent legal cases include the Jefferson Circuit court case, Fentress v. Shea Communications
and Eli Lilly (the first SSRI case to go to trial rather than be settled outside of court), as well as the following U.S.
District Court cases: Susan Forsyth et al. v. Eli Lilly, Miller et al. v. Pfizer Incorporated, Motus v. Pfizer Incorporated,
and Tobin v. SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline). All of these legal cases were synthesized and published
in David Healy’s 2004 book entitled
Let Them Eat Prozac: The Unhealthy Relationship between the Pharmaceutical Industry and Depression.
Language of Materials: Materials are primarily in English, with one set of interviews from
The Psychopharmacologists conducted in French and one other interview conducted with the aid of a German translator. Some additional materials are
found in Dutch, German, and French.
Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special
Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Restrictions on Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Open for research. All materials are stored off site and require advance notice for use.
Please contact History and Special Collections for the Sciences, UCLA Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, 310.825.6940,
to arrange for use.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
Property rights in the physical objects belong to the UCLA Biomedical Library. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained
by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue
the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish if the Biomedical Library does not hold the copyright.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], David Healy papers (Manuscript collection 433). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and
Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Provenance/Source of Acquisition
Collection was donated by Dr. David Healy, July 2011.
Processing Information
Processed by Kathryn Hale, M.A., in 2013 in the Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT), with assistance from Jillian
Cuellar.
General note
This collection forms part of the UCLA/ACNP History of Neuropsychopharmacology Archives.
Biography/History
David Healy is an internationally recognized psychiatrist, researcher, and author from Ireland. He has served as a former
Secretary of the British Association for Psychopharmacology, and he is a founder and Chief Executive Officer of Data Based
Medicine Americas Limited, which aims to collect direct patient reports of drug effects through their website (RxISK.org)
and use them to affect regulatory policy. He has published extensively on the history of psychopharmacology and psychiatry,
issues with medical ghost writing, SSRI use and suicide risk, Explanatory Models of mental illness and the historical shaping
of categories for mental illness.
David Healy was born in Raheny, Dublin on April 27, 1954. He completed his medical degree in neuroscience and studied psychiatry
during a clinical research fellowship at Cambridge University. He is currently a professor of Psychiatry at Cardiff University
School of Medicine, Wales, and the head of the psychiatric inpatient unit at Bangor University, North Wales. To date, Healy
has published 20 books and over 150 peer-reviewed articles, as well as over 200 other pieces. Well-known works include
The Psychopharmacologists (Vols. I-III, 1996-2000),
The Antidepressant Era (1999), and
Let Them Eat Prozac (2004). He has also generated independent data (see Healy 2000) that speaks directly to the Fentress trial and raises the
need for transparency in psychopharmaceutical clinical trials. His data suggests a causal link between patients’ ingestion
of sertraline (Zoloft) and increased suicidality in two of twenty healthy volunteers when compared to reboxetine (a non-SSRI
antidepressant), which he attributed to emotional disinhibition and feelings of inner restlessness.
In 1994, before David Healy was aware of the Fentress case and legal developments regarding SSRIs, he was approached by
CNS Drugs to write a review article about fluoxetine and the suicide controversy. This publication led to Healy’s subsequent involvement
in the Forsyth, Miller, Motus, and Tobin cases, including serving as an expert witness in the Forsyth v. Eli Lilly and Company
case in 1999 and the Tobin v. SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals (now GlaxoSmithKline) case in 2001. Healy was deposed in
the Miller v. Pfizer Inc. case in 2004, but his testimony on general and specific causation (about whether Zoloft can cause
suicide and it if caused Matthew Miller to commit suicide) was later excluded as a result of the Daubert Supreme Court hearing,
which generated principles for when expert testimony reflects scientific knowledge. (The Motus case was eventually thrown
out due to Zoloft’s prescription-only status.) The Tobin case returned the first verdict against a pharmaceutical company
for adverse behavioral effects of a psychotropic drug (Paxil). This verdict contributed to the 2003 UK Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulatory Agency’s decision to caution physicians that Seroxat (Paxil) was “contra-indicated” in children under
18 for the treatment of depression. It also influenced the 2004 FDA hearing on the use of SSRIs in children and the subsequent
FDA requirement that a “black box” warning label be added to SSRIs.
An important historical event to consider alongside the records in this collection is The Toronto Affair. In early 2000, Healy
had been hired as a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and the Head of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program
within the Center for Addiction and Mental Health, although he was waiting on his visa and had not yet made the move from
Britain to Canada. In November of 2000, he was invited to the University of Toronto’s Department of Psychiatry to speak at
its seventy-fifth anniversary meeting, which was entitled “Looking Back: Looking Ahead.” The chief physician at the Center
for Addiction and Mental Health, David Goldbloom, reacted strongly to his talk, and soon after, the Center withdrew their
offer of a position. Healy later became aware that Eli Lilly had, some time prior, donated $1.5 million dollars to the Centre
for Addiction and Mental Health, which had hired Healy, and although there was no direct evidence that Eli Lilly attempted
to terminate this appointment, broader questions were raised about possible conflicts of interest between the pharmaceutical
industry and academia. Healy published two articles (Healy 2002, 2003) recounting this event and the possible conflicts of
interest it raises between the pharmaceutical industry and academia. Later, he filed a legal action against the University
of Toronto seeking redress for breach of contract and violation of academic freedom. This legal action was settled in April
2002. However, this experience overlapped with his involvement in the Tobin case and likely affected his writing of
Let Them Eat Prozac and
The Creation of Psychopharmacology. Both of these works were being written during that time period and address issues that arise when pharmaceutical companies’
funding of research programs conflicts with academic freedom.
Resources used while creating this finding aid:
Scope and Content
Materials are largely textual, comprising personal and professional correspondence; publications; patient charts from Eli
Lilly; official court records, including deposition transcripts, transcripts of trial testimony, and court exhibit files from
multiple cases; and internal documents from Eli Lilly and Company. Other formats found in the collection include photographs
of interviewees from
The Psychopharmacologists, ephemera such as one or two pharmaceutical advertisements, films associated with the work of two prominent psychopharmacologists
(namely, Mogens Schou and Jean Thuillier), and video recordings of case proceedings and depositions from three cases (Fentress
et al. v. Shea Communications and Eli Lilly and Co., Motus v. Pfizer Inc., and Miller et al. v. Pfizer Inc.) Strengths of
this collection include the corpus of patient charts (along with notes from treating staff and Eli Lilly), correspondence
and draft revisions regarding
The Psychopharmacologists, and unique access to personal correspondence with well-known researchers in the area, such as Frank Ayd, Thomas Ban, Arvid
Carlsson, Louis Lasagna, Judith Rapoport, and Myrna Weissman.
Organization and Arrangement
The collection was received in good condition and an arrangement scheme based on topical organization had already been imposed.
Overall, these 3 series were arranged chronologically based on the bulk dates with some exceptions explained in the series
and subseries descriptions below.
- 1. Fentress et al. v. Shea Communications and Eli Lilly and Company, 1970-2001
- 1.1. Data from Prozac registration files, 1978-2000
- 1.2. Fentress court proceedings, 1994
- 1.3. Case evidence, 1970-1994
- 1.4. Correspondence, 1997-2001
- 2. Other legal cases, 1972-2001
- 3.
The Psychopharmacologists, 1950-2001
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
This collection includes three Betacam digital tapes, forty-one VHS tapes, and seven PAL/UK format VHS tapes.
Related Material
The following sources provide additional information on Eli Lilly:
- UCLA Library Special Collections, History and Special Collections for the Sciences
- Stanford University – Medical History Center
- Indiana State Library – Manuscripts and Rare Books
The following sources provide additional information on interviewees included in David Healy’s multivolume set,
The Psychopharmacologists:
- UCLA Center for the Study of the History of Neuropsychopharmacology
- National Library of Medicine – Archives and Manuscripts