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Sidney M. Wolfe

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For the American astrophysicist, see Sidney C. Wolff.

Sidney Manuel Wolfe (June 12, 1937 – January 1, 2024) was an American physician and the co-founder and director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, a consumer and health advocacy lobbying organization.[1] He publicly crusaded against many pharmaceutical drugs, which he believed to be a danger to public health.

Sidney M. Wolfe
Sidney in 2016
Born
Sidney Manuel Wolfe

(1937-06-12)June 12, 1937
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJanuary 1, 2024(2024-01-01) (aged 86)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Alma materCase Western University
OccupationPhysician
Known forHealth Research Group
AwardsMacArthur Fellows Program

Early life and education

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Wolfe was born in Cleveland, Ohio on June 12, 1937. His father was a workplace safety inspector for the Labor Department and his mother was an English teacher.[2]

In 1959, he received a BA in chemical engineering from Cornell University. While working at a summer job, he received first degree burns from hydrofluoric acid that made him decide not to pursue chemistry as a career. In 1965, he received a medical degree from Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University). He trained under pediatrician Benjamin Spock.[2]

Career

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After earning his medical degree at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, Wolfe completed an internship and residency in internal medicine.[3] Beginning in 1966, he researched blood-clotting and alcoholism at the National Institutes of Health.[4] He met consumer advocate Ralph Nader in Washington, D.C. at a meeting of the American Patients Association, and advised Nader on health problems in the United States.[3] Wolfe co-founded the consumer lobbying organization Health Research Group with Nader in 1971. In March 1971, Wolfe heard about bacterial contamination of intravenous fluid bags made by Abbott Laboratories. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), had recommended to continue use of "unless the patient developed an infection". After ensuring that a product recall would not cause a shortage Wolfe and Nader wrote a letter to the FDA demanding such a recall[5] and released this letter to the news media. Two million bags were recalled two days later.[6][7]

For more than 30 years, Wolfe campaigned to have propoxyphene (Darvon, Darvocet) removed from the American market, because it can cause heart arrhythmias. In 2009, an FDA advisory panel recommended that it be withdrawn from the market.[8] The recommendation to ban the drug was ultimately not upheld and instead manufacturers were required to place additional warning labels on packaging. In 2009, Wolfe was appointed to the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Committee.[9] On November 19, 2010, the FDA recommended against continued prescribing and use of propoxyphene.[10]

Other drugs that Wolfe has campaigned against include Yaz, Yasmin,[11] phenacetin, Oraflex, Zomax, Vioxx,[12] and Crestor.[13]

In 1995, he became an Adjunct Professor of Internal Medicine at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.[4]

From 2008 to 2012, he was a member of the FDA's Drug Safety and Risk Management Committee.[4]

Wolfe was interviewed on television by Phil Donahue, Barbara Walters, Bill Moyers,[3] and Oprah Winfrey, and wrote for the Huffington Post.[14] He was the editor of Health Letter, published since 1985, and Worst Pills Best Pills News, published since 1995.[15]

Wolfe was a member of the Society of General Internal Medicine and the American Public Health Association.[15] He retired from his position as director of the Health Research Group in 2013,[4] He continued in the role of senior adviser until his death.[16]

Awards

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Personal life

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Wolfe was first married to Ava Albert. Together they had four children. The marriage ended in divorce. In 1978, he married Suzanne Goldberg, a clinical psychologist and artist.[2]

Wolfe died of a brain tumor on January 1, 2024, at the age of 86.[2]

Works

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Books

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  • Off Diabetes Pills: A Diabetic's Guide to Longer Life (1978) with Rebecca Warner; Health Research Group; ISBN 9789996451034
  • Pills That Don't Work: A Consumers' and Doctors' Guide to Over 600 Prescription Drugs That Lack Evidence of Effectiveness; Farrar, Straus & Giroux; Revised edition (1981), with Christopher M. Coley & the Health Research Group OL 4259817M, ISBN 9780374233419
  • Worst Pills, Best Pills: A Consumer's Guide to Avoiding Drug-Induced Death or Illness (1990), with Larry D. Sasich and Peter Lurie; (Public Citizen Health Service, 1988) ISBN 9780937188514
  • Torrey, E. Fuller; Stieber, Joan; Ezekiel, Jonathan; Wolfe, Sidney M; Sharfstein, Joshua; Noble, John H; Flynn, Laurie M (1992), Criminalizing the Seriously Mentally Ill: The Abuse of Jails as Mental Hospitals, A joint report of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and Public Citizen's Health Research Group, ISBN 0-7881-4279-8, retrieved November 12, 2010
  • Unnecessary Cesarean Sections: Curing a National Epidemic State Report for Illinois, with Mary Gabay & the Public Citizen Group (1994) OL 11507865M, ISBN 9780937188552
  • Questionable Doctors; Disciplined by States or the Federal Government; Public Citizen Health Research Group; 1996 edition ISBN 9780937188057
    • 2,815 Questionable Doctors; Disciplined by State and Federal Governments, Region 4: California, Hawaii, with Phyllis McCarthy, John Paul Fawcett, and Benita Marcus Adler; Public Citizen's Health Research Group; 2002 edition; ASIN B0014099QQ

Articles, book chapters

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References

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  1. ^ "Health and Safety Recent Work". citizen.org. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Rosenwald, Michael (January 1, 2024). "Sidney Wolfe, relentless consumer activist and FDA foe, dies at 86". Washington Post.
  3. ^ a b c "Bill Moyers Journal . Dr. David Himmelstein & Dr. Sidney Wolfe | PBS". PBS.
  4. ^ a b c d "Sidney Wolfe, MD". Public Citizen.
  5. ^ Roehr, Bob (January 31, 2024). "Sidney Wolfe: public health leader who campaigned for reform across the US health system". BMJ. 384: q239. doi:10.1136/bmj.q239. ISSN 1756-1833.
  6. ^ Risen, Clay (January 3, 2024). "Sidney M. Wolfe, Scourge of the Pharmaceutical Industry, Dies at 86". New York Times.
  7. ^ Okie, Susan (December 5, 1989). "Running on Outrage". Washington Post.
  8. ^ "FDA Advisers: Ban Painkiller Darvon". CBS news. January 30, 2009.
  9. ^ Goldstein, Jacob (January 9, 2009). "Sidney Wolfe: Outsider Becomes FDA Insider". Wall Street Journal.
  10. ^ "FDA Drug Safety Communication: FDA recommends against the continued use of propoxyphene". fda.gov. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  11. ^ "The Yaz Men: Members of FDA panel reviewing the risks of popular Bayer contraceptive had industry ties". Washington Monthly. January 9, 2012.
  12. ^ Harris, Gardiner (February 15, 2005). "Drug Industry's Longtime Critic Says 'I Told You So'". New York Times.
  13. ^ "Testimony of Sidney M. Wolfe, M.D. before the FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee Hearing on Rosuvastatin | HRG Publication #1669". Health Research Group. July 9, 2003.
  14. ^ "FDA: Cautious on food safety – reckless on prescription drug safety". Huffington Post. May 15, 2010.
  15. ^ a b "Sidney M. Wolfe".
  16. ^ "Stepping Aside but Not Out: Well-Known Consumer Health Advocate Dr. Sidney Wolfe Hands over Reins to Deputy". Public Citizen. June 3, 2013.
  17. ^ "Sidney M. Wolfe | Physician and Public Health Leader". MacArthur Foundation.
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