Professor David Nutt is a career-long Paid Opinion Leader in psychiatry. He is widely known and continues to be extremely influential in relation to the prescribing ‘habits’ of British psychiatrists. As the UK has no sunshine legislation we cannot know the scale of payments from Industry made to Professor David Nutt in the course of his career. It is entirely possible that he has received similar amounts from Industry as one of his US counterparts, Professor Stephen Stahl.
The following two statements, eight years apart, were both made by Professor David Nutt. It is impossible not to conclude that MONEY TALKS:
2014: Professor David Nutt stated in Attacks on antidepressants: signs of deep-seated stigma? [1]: “Antidepressants have an impressive effect size in the treatment of acute cases of depression” and “antidepressants have an impressive ability to prevent recurrence of depression … which makes them one of the most effective of all drugs”.
2022: Professor David Nutt stated in Increased global integration in the brain after psilocybin therapy for depression. [2] stated: “Even the best-performing antidepressant drugs show modest efficacy, non-negligible side effects, discontinuation problems and high relapse rates, highlighting the need for new, improved treatments”.
References:
[1] Increased global integration in the brain after psilocybin therapy for depression. 11 April 2022. Nature Medicine, 28, pages844–851.
[2] Attacks on antidepressants: signs of deep-seated stigma?26 May 2014. Lancet, Vol 1, Issue 2, P102-104