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Remington Nevin, MD, MPH, DrPH


Board Certified in Public Health & General Preventive Medicine and in

Occupational Medicine by the American Board of Preventive Medicine and

Certified in Public Health by the National Board of Public Health Examiners

Dr. Nevin’s scientific work is widely cited in the domestic and international popular media where he comments frequently on occupational medicine and public health issues affecting military veterans. Dr. Nevin is available for media interviews by telephone, video, and by email, and is pleased to accommodate in-studio appearances by appointment. Media representatives may contact Dr. Nevin for further information.

Antimalarial Adverse Effects

An anti-malaria drug may have inflicted permanent neurological injuries on some servicemembers

Ken Olsen, July 18, 2019

“‘We never needed mefloquine,’ says Remington Nevin, a preventive medicine physician who served with the 82nd Airborne in Afghanistan. ‘There have always been safer drugs that did not have these adverse side effects.’


“...mefloquine poisoning is often misdiagnosed as TBI and PTSD. That means they are far less likely to get effective treatment. ‘Talk therapy does nothing for mefloquine poisoning.’.”

Conservative MPs call for inquiry as veterans, families seek acknowledgement in malaria drug lawsuit

Rebecca Lindell, June 20, 2019

“‘The major problem with this drug is that when given to perfectly healthy individuals, sizeable minorities experience what can be lasting neuropsychiatric adverse effects,’ said Dr. Remington Nevin, a former American military physician who studies the effects of mefloquine.... Nevin, who has been retained by the law firm representing claimants, said the drug shouldn’t be used in military settings because the symptoms are easy to confuse with the stress of deployment. He said the drug doesn’t affect everyone, but those who are affected should stop taking it immediately.”

‘I plead with you to look at this very closely,’ retiree tells panel studying health effects of anti-malarial drugs

Karen Jowers, January 30, 2019

“‘Your work of the next 18 months is premature,’ Dr. Remington Nevin, executive director of The Quinism Foundation, told the committee. The foundation was formed last year by a group of former senior military officers. ‘We did not ask for this study, and had we been consulted, we would not have recommended it. We are disappointed that the VA has thus far failed to act on what we have recommended, and that it continues to delay taking long-overdue action that it should take now, while this study is underway.’”

Committee to Study Health Effects of Malaria Drugs Taken by US Troops

Patricia Kime, January 8, 2019

Dr. Remington Nevin, a former Army preventive medicine officer, researcher and executive director of The Quinism Foundation, a group dedicated to supporting research on the effects of quinoline drugs, including mefloquine, said he will speak on the topic during the committee's public forum session but has concerns regarding the timing of the study, which is being conducted at the request of the Department of Veterans Affairs.... Nevin said that since the FDA already has acknowledged that mefloquine can cause severe, permanent side effects, the VA should be screening veterans who took the medication and providing treatment and disability compensation to them instead of asking for additional study.”


‘I'm concerned that this study is being undertaken in bad faith by the VA to delay action on this issue ... or worse, manufacture doubt about the significance and magnitude of the problem,’ Nevin said....”

Mefloquine testimony 'took a page' from tobacco, lead, asbestos industries, doctor says

Jordan Fischer, December 10, 2018

Dr. Remington Nevin, who testified before the inquiry, said he was disappointed in the result... ‘This flawed Australian Senate inquiry served to give entrenched military and business interests a pass to launder flawed science as fact in order to further manufacture doubt about the known dangers of these drugs,’ Nevin said. ‘These entrenched military interests overwhelmed the Senate inquiry – drowning out the voices of disabled veterans the inquiry was intended to hear.’


For Nevin, who is joining a call for an enhanced royal inquiry into the side-effects of mefloquine in Australia, the results of the report are akin to what happened in decades past when concerns were raised about asbestos, lead paint and cigarettes.


‘The tobacco industry, the asbestos industry, the lead industry – they would be very proud of the tactics employed by the entrenched interests whose testimony predominated in the Australian Senate inquiry,’ Nevin said. ‘These interests really took a page from their playbook.’”

Second soldier sues over Lariam

Mark Tighe, November 11, 2018

“The former soldier, who is represented by Kent Carty Solicitors, has lined up... Dr Remington Nevin, a former US Army doctor, to give evidence on his behalf.... Nevin claimed the Irish army’s warning to its troops was deficient. It said that alternative medication could be prescribed ‘if you develop intolerable side-effects’ but that ‘you will be considered unfit for future missions requiring Lariam’. He said this ‘threat’ dissuaded soldiers from reporting symptoms.”

'I told the doctor: I'm so ready to shoot myself'

Shane Phelan, September 30, 2018

Dr Remington Nevin, a former US Army major and expert on the effects of antimalarial drugs, told Review that what was ‘apparently intended as a cost-saving measure’ was ‘almost certain to instead prove penny wise and pound foolish’.


According to Dr Nevin, certain side effects, such as nightmares, insomnia, anxiety and changes in mood, affect over one in 10 who take the drug..”

'A Hidden Epidemic'

Matt Belanger, May 20, 2018

Dr. Remington Nevin is a Vermont-based epidemiologist who studies what he calls mefloquine's ‘toxic legacy.’ ‘This is a hidden epidemic among our veterans,’ Nevin said.


Nevin testified before Congress about the situation and said mefloquine was given to hundreds of thousands of service members since the drug was put into use in 1989. He said his research shows mefloquine poisoning is often misdiagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder.


‘This is a bitter pill for the military and the VA to swallow,’ Nevin said. ‘To admit that for decades we have been misdiagnosing some veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder when they actually have mefloquine poisoning...’”

Veterans allege devastating side effects from anti-malaria drug they were ordered to take

Andrea McCarren, May 1, 2018

"’We have a hidden epidemic of veterans who are suffering the chronic neuropsychiatric effects of mefloquine poisoning,’ said Dr. Remington Nevin, widely considered the world's expert in the potential side effects of mefloquine. ‘And in many cases, they’re being misdiagnosed. Misdiagnosed with conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.’”

Foundation for mefloquine awareness asks Trudeau to reopen the Somalia inquiry

Gloria Galloway, March 12, 2018

"’We are requesting that the Government of Canada reopen the Somalia Commission of Inquiry to investigate the role of mefloquine poisoning in the events of that era, including in the beating death of Shidane Arone,’ Remington Nevin, the Canadian-born doctor who heads the Vermont-based foundation wrote in the letter dated Saturday. ‘As we approach the quarter-century anniversary of this Canadian tragedy,’ Dr. Nevin wrote, ‘we encourage you to take action to finally address these unanswered questions related to mefloquine, and to provide a long-overdue measure of justice to the families of Clayton Matchee [one of the soldiers who was charged in the death] and Shidane Arone.’"

Former soldier files lawsuit against federal government, drug manufacturer

PJ Wilson, December 7, 2017

“‘This day has been a long time coming for members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment’, Nevin said.... Mefloquine, Nevin said, should never have been issued to Canadian soldiers.... Among the issues in the hearing, Nevin said, will be the argument the military may not have had the authority to distribute the drug. It was not licensed for use in Canada at the time, and was only to be used under close supervision”.

Ireland settles mefloquine case with veteran as Canada prepares to fight suit

Gloria Galloway, December 4, 2017

Remington Nevin, a doctor at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland, who has studied the drug's effects for nearly a decade, testified on behalf of Mr. Cole and expects to be called as a witness in the Canadian case, if it goes ahead.... ‘The Canadian government itself has taken until 2017 to conclude that there were problems with the drug significant enough to warrant it being made a drug of last resort,’ Dr. Nevin said. ‘So, if it took the Canadian government until 2017 to recognize this,’ he said, ‘it's not surprising that these issues have not made it to court until now’.”

Settlement in malaria drug case

Mark Tighe, December 3, 2017

“Sources involved say the settlement included a ‘significant’ payment to the soldier, and his legal costs.... During the trial the state was forced to withdraw an objection to Remington Nevin, a former US Army doctor and expert in Lariam’s side effects, being qualified to give evidence about the Irish army’s choice of antimalarial drug and the monitoring of its effects”.

Soldier ‘changed personality’ after anti-malaria drug

Mark Tighe, November 19, 2017

Nevin claimed the Irish Army’s warning to its troops was deficient because it said alternative medication could be prescribed ‘if you develop intolerable side-effects’ but that ‘you will be considered unfit for future missions requiring Lariam’. He said this ‘threat’ would dissuade soldiers from reporting symptoms”.

Cure or Curse?

Sharon Adams, September 6, 2017

“...‘The [Canadian Armed Forces] report should be seen as part of a strategy of manufacturing doubt by an embattled bureaucracy deeply on the defensive on the mefloquine issue,’ said Nevin. “The conclusions…are also clearly at odds with those of a number of other countries’”.

'This problem is not going away': Mefloquine expert calls for study into after-effects of antimalarial drug

Juris Graney, July 29, 2017

Remington Nevin, a former U.S. army physician and staunch opponent of mefloquine, said making a ‘concerted effort’ to track down surviving members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment deployed to Somalia in 1992-93 had the potential to finally end the debate about permanent damage caused by the drug”.

'This is the next Agent Orange': Veterans protest military's use of anti-malarial drug

Bill Kaufmann, July 13, 2017

“Bona’s requests are reasonable, especially given the scope of the mefloquine problem, said Dr. Remington Nevin, a Maryland-based epidemiologist who once served in the U.S. military... He said huge numbers of soldiers suffering from the effects of the drug have been misdiagnosed with PTSD, with government refusing to fully acknowledge that partly to avoid costly liability. ‘When people realize the scope of this, they will be shocked,’ he said.’This is the next Agent Orange.’”.

Sergeant’s Lariam battle heads to court

Mark Tighe, July 2, 2017

“The first High Court action by a soldier against the state for prescribing Lariam, an anti-malarial drug, will start on Tuesday and is listed to be heard over three weeks. Remington Nevin, an American doctor who has criticised Lariam’s “dangerous” side effects... will give evidence”.

Mefloquine will no longer be Canadian Forces’ first malaria prevention option

Gloria Galloway, June 1, 2017

“...the recommendation to further restrict use of mefloquine is a tacit acknowledgment that the Forces have failed to use mefloquine safely, and that its continued use poses a risk to its members, Dr. Nevin said. ‘While this report is a step in the right direction for serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces,’ he said, ‘it does a disservice to Canadian veterans. Canadian mefloquine veterans deserve to have the government acknowledge that their health has been placed at risk by Canadian Armed Forces’ misuse of mefloquine’”.

APTN Investigates: Bad Medicine

Cullen Crozier, April 7, 2017

“It has been called one of the darkest chapters in Canada’s military history. The 1993 beating death of a Somali teenager at the hands of two Canadian soldiers. Now, 24 years after the Somalia Affair, some experts say new evidence points to Mefloquine, a controversial anti-malaria drug as one of the driving factors behind the incident. Questions linger about why the drug known to cause psychotic behaviour and suicide was tested on Canadian Forces... Dr. Remington Nevin is a leading expert on the neuropsychiatric side effects associated with mefloquine... and takes serious issue with how it was administered to Canadian Forces in Somalia”.

Anti-malaria drug Lariam and the Scots who paid the price for taking it

Alasdair Soussi, March 11, 2017

“Leading Lariam expert, Dr Remington Nevin, said the ‘public health tragedy’ of Lariam ‘reflects to some extent a victory of the military’s goals over the public’s broader interests’”.

Murder-suicide raises questions about anti-malaria drug

Chris Doucette, January 15, 2017

“Desmond served with the Royal Canadian Regiment in Afghanistan in 2007 and was battling PTSD even before his release from the military in 2015.... Dr. Remington Nevin, who works at Johns Hopkins University and has studied anti-malarials extensively, also urged Canadian officials to reveal whether Desmond took the drug. ‘Mefloquine can cause a range of severe neuropsychiatric adverse reactions that can mimic symptoms of PTSD and post-concussive injury,’ he said..’”

'A horror movie in a pill’

Andrea Huncar, December 22, 2016

Nevin said the updated drug information clarifies that reactions can be permanent. And it advises prescribers to tell patients to stop taking the drug as soon as they experience symptoms such as vivid dreams, insomnia or mild mood changes -- which might be the only warning signs to avoid permanent brain injury. ‘I think it is terribly irresponsible and cruel to prescribe this drug to an infant or a preverbal child who may experience horrific side effects and have no way to communicate that to their parents,’ said Nevin. The common assumption the drug is safe for people without mental illness ‘is absolutely not the case,’ he added’”.

Former soldier suffers after taking anti-malaria drug

Chris Doucette, December 18, 2016

“With several allied countries now either banning Mefloquine or only giving it to soldiers as a last resort, an expert on the anti-malaria drug is urging Canada to follow suit. ‘For nearly 25 years, Canadian officials have hid their heads in the sand,’ Dr. Remington Nevin, of Johns Hopkins University, said recently. ‘It’s a real scandal and it’s quite tragic.’”

Irish Defence Forces blasted for continuing to give troops

‘dated’ Lariam

Adam Higgins, December 15, 2016

Dr Remington Nevin, a former US Army major and leading expert on Mefloquine, has urged the Irish government to stop their ‘stubborn’ policy of using the drug as a first preference option. Speaking to the Irish Sun, he said: ‘Militaries across the world have all but eliminated the use of Lariam.’”

Germany bans drug linked to brain damage

Sheila Pratt, December 9, 2016

Dr. Remington Nevin, a leading expert on mefloquine and its neuropsychiatric side effects, urged Canada to follow Germany’s example before it sends more soldiers to Africa on a peacekeeping mission.


‘Canadian military officials remain years behind their European counterparts in their appreciation of the inherent dangers of mefloquine,’ said Nevin, who also testified at the veterans affairs committee”.

Veteran speaks out about experience with anti-malarial drug mefloquine

Stu Gooden, December 1, 2016

Dr. Remington Nevin, an anti-malarial medication expert based in Baltimore, Md., said during Bona’s deployment, soldiers weren’t properly briefed on the effects mefloquine had. ‘It’s very disappointing that Canadian Forces soldiers received no warnings; no education at all about the important safety information that was necessary to follow,’ he said”.

Canadian military to reassess use of controversial anti-malaria drug

Gloria Galloway, November 15, 2016

“Drug regulators in Canada, Europe and the United States agree that mefloquine causes mental health symptoms that last decades after use, said Remington Nevin, a doctor at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland who has studied the drug’s effects for nearly a decade. ‘The experience of Canadian veterans,’ Dr. Nevin said, ‘makes this painfully obvious to all but those few officials who continue to manufacture doubt, seemingly in a misguided attempt to avoid liability and responsibility for a preventable problem that they mostly created for themselves.’”

Veterans urge another look at Clayton Matchee case in light of malaria drug's side effects

Sheila Pratt, November 14, 2016

“In 1992-93, the 900 Canadian Airborne soldiers were among the very first Canadians to take mefloquine as part of a clinical drug trial run by the Canadian army. The side effects were not well understood or explained to soldiers.... That’s why the Matchee case should be reopened, said Dr. Remington Nevin, the leading U.S. expert on mefloquine’s neuropsychiatric side effects.”

Probe malaria drug’s psychotic effect on troops, Canadian veterans urge

Gloria Galloway, November 14, 2016

Remington Nevin, a doctor and researcher at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland who has studied the effects of mefloquine for nearly a decade, told The Globe and Mail that ‘it’s quite remarkable’ that Health Canada authorized the new product description without any significant public notification.... While the Somalia inquiry ‘focused mainly on the perceived failings of junior soldiers and mid to senior leaders,’ said Dr. Nevin, ‘really the worst offence was this inexcusable decision by the highest levels of military leadership to condone a frankly illegal use of an experimental medication without any oversight...’”

Mefloquine labeling falls short on adverse reaction recommendations

Heidi Splete, October 27, 2016

Dr. Nevin has really been a leader in this area for 10 years; he was a major force in putting the black box warning on this drug that led to the U.S. military dramatically decreasing their use of it,” Dr. Ritchie said.

Veteran to meet with Veterans Affairs committee about mefloquine

Sheila Pratt, October 24, 2016

“...Hehr’s department is relying on “out of date research” from Health Canada, which has not updated its warnings since 2011, says Nevin, a former U.S. military physician whose groundbreaking research shows the drug can cause long-term or even permanent adverse effects.

Malaria drug causes permanent brain damage that mimics PTSD: case study

Patricia Kime, August 11, 2016

“...Dr. Remington Nevin, a former Army epidemiologist and researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, said any distribution of the drug, which was developed by the Army in the late 1970s, is too much. ‘This new finding should motivate the U.S. military to consider further revising its mefloquine policy to ban use of the drug altogether,’ Nevin told Military Times.

Risky anti-malaria drug given to thousands of Canadian veterans

Sheila Pratt, May 25, 2016

“...Canadian soldiers currently take mefloquine at five times the rate of Americans, said Dr. Remington Nevin, a former U.S. military physician and the leading expert in the neuropsychiatric effects of the drug.... ‘Canada is now increasingly isolated in not taking action,’ said Nevin.

New push for ban on mefloquine in the Canadian military

Sheila Pratt, January 30, 2016

“...Dr. Remington Nevin, a former U.S. army physician, epidemiologist and renowned expert in neuropsychiatric effects of mefloquine who lectures at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore pushed for years for a ban on the drug in the U.S. military... ‘In military settings, mefloquine cannot be used as directed.’”

B.C. military veteran calls for federal apology for controversial anti-malaria drug

Peter O’Neil, January 28, 2016

“...One of the leading authorities on government misuse of Mefloquine, Dr. Remington Nevin, said Canada is mishandling the drug and should heed calls to remove the drug from its list of those authorized for use by soldiers in malaria zones.”

Labor threatens Senate inquiry into Australian Defence Force's use of antimalarial drug

Henry Belot, December 23, 2015

“...Dr Remington Nevin, a former major in the US Army Medical Corps who now lectures at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, said a public inquiry was necessary to address ‘ethical failings’ by the ADF... ‘Foreseeable risks from mefloquine were not adequately weighed; the rights, safety, and wellbeing of military subjects were not adequately considered,’ he said....’Inadequate medical care has been provided to study subjects plausibly experiencing chronic adverse neuropsychiatric effects from the drug.’”

ADF should have known dangers of anti-malarial drug before testing on personnel: expert

Peter Lloyd, December 18, 2015

“...An international authority on the toxicity of malaria drugs believes the Australian Defence Force should have known an anti malaria drug was too dangerous for widespread prescription before it compelled thousands of diggers on deployment to East Timor to take part in a trial of the drug.... Dr Remington Nevin is a former US Army doctor, and specialist in the lasting neurologic and mental health effects of mefloquine.”

Lariam: Medical experts condemn MoD

Jonathan Owen, December 8, 2015

“...Dr Remington Nevin, a former US Army doctor and expert on the psychiatric effects of Lariam, told MPs: ‘Lariam is not the most effective drug [against malaria], there is no area of the world where it is the preferred drug.’ The side effects can be confused with those of post-traumatic stress syndrome and the drug is strongly associated with acts of violence, warned Dr Nevin, who is based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.”

Lessons from Atabrine

Remington Nevin, November 9, 2015

“While Atabrine contributed directly to victory in World War II, there is evidence that—as with mefloquine—it may have left behind a hidden epidemic of psychiatric symptoms among veterans that are only now beginning to be understood...” 

First pay-out over drug blamed for soldiers’ suicides

Mark Tighe, October 14, 2015

“...Remington Nevin, a former US army public health doctor, welcomed Roche’s decision to withdraw the ‘very unpopular drug’. ‘It has been avoided by experienced travel medicine physicians for a number of years in favour of better tolerated prophylactic anti-malarials,’ Dr Nevin said.”

UK Surgeon General

Defends Use Of Lariam

Charlotte Cross, September 25, 2015

“...Air Marshal Paul Evans, the UK's top defence medical officer, told the BBC there's nothing to suggest the drug is not safe, in a rare interview. Forces TV's Paula Middlehurst, meanwhile, spoke to Dr Remington Nevin, a former US Army doctor, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He has previously described the drug as ‘neurotoxic’ and said there are better and safer options for the military to use, because of the risk of ‘permanent disability’.”

Drug trial a test of ethics

Paul Cleary, September 11, 2015

“...In Bougainville and Timor, army medical officers also prescribed a drug known as tafenoquine... US expert Remington Nevin says the ADF misinformed participants about the serious risks... Regarding the double-blind trial, he says there was ‘no evidence in the documents I have reviewed that participants were properly counseled’.”

Row over British soldiers issued anti-malarial drug linked to suicide

Marco Giannangeli, August 30, 2015

“...one of the world's leading experts on the mental health effects of anti-malarial drugs branded the Ministry of Defence disingenuous over its published statement that it was not using the drug as a first resort... ‘What's missing by the MoD is recognition of some of the unique risks that come with using Lariam in military settings’, said Dr Nevin..’”

ADF accused of being ‘unethical’

in drug trial on troops

Paul Cleary, August 24, 2015

“...US expert Remington Nevin told The Australian the drug could prove “neurotoxic” for some, which meant it could cause brain damage.’”

The Lariam hazard: is the risk too big?

Annabelle Collins, July 9, 2015

...Remington Nevin, a consulting physician epidemiologist and specialist in antimalarial toxicity... has doubts over the safety of the mefloquine-based drug. ‘It is often erroneously believed, even by experienced pharmacists and physicians, that mefloquine is safe to use among those who have no history of psychiatric disturbances,’ Dr Nevin explains. ‘We know from Roche’s own material that Lariam may induce psychiatric symptoms in a sizeable minority of perfectly healthy people.’”

The Lariam Legacy

Deborah Dudgeon, March 31, 2015

Dr Remington Nevin told a US Senate Committee that he believes this drug could emerge as the ‘Agent Orange’ of our generation.”

To Live and Die in Gitmo

Alexander Nazaryan, January 15, 2015

Dr. Remington L. Nevin of Johns Hopkins University, who was a major in the Army and has extensively studied mefloquine’s effects... told me that there had been ‘worrisome misuse’ of the drug at Guantánamo Bay.”

Army: Robert Bales’ medical records to remain classified

Adam Ashton, September 2, 2014

“...Nevin wants to see a definitive answer from the Army on whether another Special Forces soldier gave Bales mefloquine... ‘Bales' case remains suspicious for possible exposure to mefloquine,’ Nevin said. ‘Certainly nothing in the records rules it out definitively, and the military remains stubbornly unwilling to confirm or deny that he was, in fact, taking the medication. Given the seriousness of the events that transpired, it is of critical importance for drug regulators, policy makers, and the public to know definitively whether mefloquine may have played a role in the events of that night.’”

Report: U.S. military still using dangerous malaria drug

UPI, December 24, 2013

...“Dr. Remington Nevin of the School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore said the drug can cause ‘toxic brain injury’. Nevin, a former Army doctor, said there is a special risk for military service members that the symptoms will be misdiagnosed”....

Some U.S. troops haunted by anti-malaria drug's drastic side effects

Wyatt Andrews and Sarah Fitzpatrick, December 23, 2013

..."Mefloquine causes toxic brain injury," says Dr. Remington Nevin, a former Army doctor, who's now with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.... Nevin studies conclude that mefloquine can cause obvious brain injuries in some veterans, like Jimmy Corrigan, but less obvious changes to mood and personality in thousands of veterans, like Sean Laraway. "In some cases, these individuals will be misdiagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury," Nevin says. "I think we have a hidden epidemic of psychiatric and neurological injuries due to this drug"....

The Lariam scandal

Jonathan Owen, September 26, 2013

...Dr Remington Nevin, a former US army doctor and expert on the psychiatric effects of Lariam, who is based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said: “As a result of its toxic effects, the drug is quickly becoming the “Agent Orange” of this generation, linked to a growing list of lasting neurological and psychiatric problems including suicide”... Dr Nevin commented: “Public Health England has a responsibility to protect the traveling public from the threat posed by dangerous medicines, and should carefully reconsider its recommendations in light of mefloquine’s neurotoxicity and its association with risk of permanent neurological injury and death”... He added: “Mefloquine toxicity is also a potentially life-threatening condition that is fully preventable by use of safer daily antimalarials”....

Elite Army units to stop taking anti-malarial drug

Pauline Jelenik, September 19, 2013

...The message also told commanders and medical workers to assess the possibility that some of their troops have been sickened by the drug but may mistakenly have been thought to be malingering or to have post-traumatic stress disorder or other psychological problems.... "What this is is a wake-up call telling troops, 'Look, you've been misinformed,'" said Remington Nevin, a former Army physician and epidemiologist who studies the psychiatric effects of anti-malarial toxicity at the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Nevin is a critic of military policy on mefloquine, which he says the Pentagon should have stopped using years ago, particularly because it confounds diagnosis of PTSD and traumatic brain injury, two signature health issues of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan....

FDA Warning Highlights Mefloquine’s Mental Health Risks

Aaron Levin, September 9, 2013

... “Expecting patients suffering from mefloquine toxicity to report their impairment to their doctors is like asking a person who’s had too many drinks to decide whether or not to drive”, said Remington Nevin... “The problem is the FDA’s risk-mitigation strategy,” said Nevin, a former U.S. Army physician and now a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.... A more reasonable strategy would be for the FDA to mandate a test prescription of one or two doses of mefloquine before the patient travels to a malarial region, said Nevin, who has studied the drug’s effects for more than five years. Medication for the full travel period would be prescribed only after evaluation for neurological or psychiatric reactions.

Malaria drug overused on Guantanamo Bay prisoners?

Jason Leopold, August 20, 2013

...Dr. Remington Nevin, a former U.S. Army major and leading researcher into the effects of anti-malarial drugs, said the military should review seven prisoner suicides at Gitmo over the past decade to determine if their deaths may be linked to mefloquine, a controversial medication known to cause severe neurological and psychological disorders....

A Gruesome War Crime Renews Concerns About a Malaria Drug’s Psychiatric Side Effects

Greg Miller, August 15, 2013

...“I like to say this drug is like a horror show in a pill,” said Remington Nevin, a former Army physician who’s now an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University. In a recent paper, Nevin argues that the drug’s effects on the brain and behavior make it likely to become increasingly important in forensic psychiatry..... The drug’s chemistry predisposes it to build up in fatty tissues like the brain at much higher concentrations than it does in the bloodstream, where the malaria parasite hangs out. “Mefloquine is a psychotropic drug with incidental anti-malarial properties,” Nevin said....

Crazy Pills

David Stuart MacLean, August 8, 2013

...We have a generation of soldiers and travelers with this drug ticking away in their systems. In June of last year, Remington Nevin, a former Army preventive medicine officer and epidemiologist, testified in front of a Senate subcommittee that he was afraid that Lariam “may become the ‘Agent Orange’ of our generation, a toxic legacy that affects our troops and our veterans”....

Federal officials issue strong new warning about anti-malaria drug

Alan Zarembo, August 1, 2013

...Military officials continued to dismiss the claims of veterans who insisted that the side effects could be long-lasting.... Dr. Remington Nevin, an epidemiologist who served in the Army and has been a leading critic of the drug, estimated that hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops have taken it.... "Now the military needs to take responsibility to clean up the toxic mess it's created," he said....

FDA Issues its Strongest Warning on Anti-Malaria Drug

Traci Tong, July 30, 2013

...Dr. Remington Nevin, a former Army epidemiologist who’s done extensive research on the drug’s side-effects... helped persuade the FDA to issue the warning.... “It remains licensed for use, but I think the latest warnings by the FDA will spell the demise of mefloquine among most travelers.”.... Unfortunately, said Dr. Nevin, the drug is still being used by the US military but only as a “last resort.”....“The military has had a hard time educating its medics and service members of the true dangers of the drug”....

Did malarial drug play role in Bales’ Afghan murders?

Hal Bernton, July 18, 2013

...Even if Bales took mefloquine only in Iraq, the drug could still have had a long-term impact on his mental health, with some symptoms resembling that of post-traumatic stress disorder and mild traumatic brain injury, according to Dr. Remington Nevin, a former Army physician who has studied the effects of the drug.... Nevin notes that Roche, the manufacturer of the drug, recently filed an updated product documentation, which acknowledges the drug “may cause long-lasting serious mental-health problems”...

FDA Report Sheds New Light on Robert Bales’ Afghan Massacre

Nina Shapiro, July 16, 2013

...former Army epidemiologist Remington Nevin, received an FDA document through a Freedom of Information Act request that, while not naming Bales, describes a situation that could only refer to the former staff sergeant.... Nevin cautions that the report is not proof that mefloquine caused Bales to act as he did, nor even that he took the drug.... Nevertheless, Nevin, who has long warned against using mefloquine, says it would explain a lot if Bales was given the drug. “Everything he did has been perfectly consistent—almost textbook—of someone intoxicated with mefloquine,” Nevin says...

Letters link drug to army rampage

Mark Tighe, July 14, 2013

...Roche, the drug's manufacturers, has now issued a fresh warning about the drug's side effects to Irish doctors. In a letter sent on July 1, it says Lariam can lead to suicide and psychosis... Remington Nevin, an American researcher, said the notice should “sound the death knell for the Irish army’s use of Lariam”....

Report Suggests Malaria Drug May Have Played Role In Afghanistan Killings

Rebecca Ruiz, July 10, 2013

...The military has never commented on whether or not Bales was taking the drug before or at the time of the murders, but an adverse event report logged by the Food and Drug Administration seems to indicate that he did. The report was recently obtained by Dr. Remington Nevin, formerly an Army preventive medicine physician and epidemiologist who is now a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.... “Given how important from a public health perspective it is to understand the potential consequences of continued use of the medication,” Nevin said, “I think the military should promptly confirm or deny reports that he may have been taking this drug while committing these atrocious acts of violence”....

Guantanamo manual supports controversial drug

Jason Leopold, June 17, 2013

...all prisoners transferred to Guantanamo had been given treatment doses - 1,250 mg - of the powerful antimalarial, mefloquine, regardless of whether or not the prisoners had malaria. Mefloquine can cause severe neuropsychiatric side effects, including suicidal thoughts, hallucinations and anxiety.... An Army public health physician, Maj Remington Nevin, said in an interview at the time the use of mefloquine "in this manner...is, at best, an egregious malpractice" and was tantamount to "pharmacologic waterboarding"....

‘Horror movie in a pill’: Side-effects of Lariam worse than malaria

Sinead O’Conner, May 26, 2013

...“These figures also indicate evidence of more serious events, such as psychosis, potentially leading to more sudden and impulsive suicides,” said Dr Remington Nevin, an epidemiologist and former US Army major.... “Overall, these figures are the strongest evidence yet of a powerful causal association between Lariam exposure and suicide”.... Dr Nevin describes Lariam as a “horror movie in a pill”. The US military no longer uses Lariam as the drug of choice and the FDA in America has launched a full neurological review of the medicine....

Prime Time: Risk Factor

RTÉ Investigations Unit

Rita O’Reilly, May 23, 2013

...Following months of research, the RTÉ Investigations Unit has uncovered evidence of a higher risk of suicide among soldiers returning from overseas duty. Preventive medicine specialist Dr Remington Nevin, (former US Army Major) a leading researcher into mefloquine toxicity, who analysed the data, says the findings demand urgent investigation....

Malaria medicine could be toxic

Tia Ghose, May 22, 2013

...There may now be thousands of people who received diagnoses of brain injury or PTSD whose symptoms may be caused in part by medicine they took while deployed, Nevin said. As a result, the treatments they receive may not necessarily help them.... Better understanding how mefloquine affects the brain could point the way to potential treatments, Nevin said. "If we spend only a fraction of what was spent on the development of this drug to investigate its toxic effects, we could make great advances," Nevin said....

Battleland: The Lariam Debate…Continues

Mark Thompson, December 5, 2012

...Remington Nevin, a former Army public health doctor now pursuing graduate work at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.... who recently testified before a Senate panel on the chronic effects of mefloquine, said the Food and Drug Administration has convened a panel of neurotoxicologists and other experts to review the safety of the drug, based on recent reports of brainstem damage. These reports, Nevin suggests, represent “the tip of the iceberg” and that “thousands of veterans may suffering from the neurologic and psychiatric effects of mefloquine toxicity”....

Tragic death of Oxford astrophysicist

Ned Stafford, December 3, 2012

...Public health researcher and epidemiologist Remington Nevin tells Chemistry World: ‘Mefloquine intoxication is associated with a risk of chronic psychiatric symptoms, but these do not fit a specific psychiatric or neurologic diagnosis. As a result, the effects of the drug are frequently misdiagnosed or mistaken for other conditions....It is increasingly clear that thousands or tens of thousands of former users could be suffering the toxic effects of the drug and not even know it,’ he adds....

Warnings about psychological side effects of malaria drug Lariam grow louder

Maiken Scott, September 12, 2012

..."It's very possible that many users suffering from mefloquine toxicity have been misdiagnosed with PTSD or traumatic brain injury," Nevin said.... He says several hundred thousand American soldiers have taken Lariam.... Nevin says the fallout could continue for decades....

Malaria drug for Canadian troops called dangerous

Nancy Wood, April 11, 2012

...Remington Nevin, who first gained experience with mefloquine during his deployment in Afghanistan in 2007, says that "there are a certain group of users in whom … these symptoms, the anxiety, the difficulty sleeping, the mood changes, these could be an indication, an early warning sign of a developing, more serious brain condition… a toxicity caused by rising levels of the drug.... The worst-case scenario is that a soldier that suffers toxicity from mefloquine is left with permanent brain-stem injury”....

Army curbs prescriptions of anti-malaria drug

Tom Watkins, November 19, 2011


...Nevin, the Army doctor, has riled superiors with public attacks on mefloquine, calling it “probably the worst-suited drug for the military.” He noted that its side effects can closely mirror symptoms of stress disorders related to combat, making diagnosis of neurological problems difficult....

Military Mental Health

Invisible Wounds:


Thousands of combat veterans suffered traumatic brain injuries that were never documented. Then two doctoral students unearthed the evidence.

Jackie Powder, Spring, 2015

“...“TBI has been called the invisible wound of these wars, and our research shows for the first time how truly invisible it is,’ said Nevin.” 

Combat head trauma figures suspect in Iraq, Afghanistan wars, study finds

Carl Pine, May 19, 2014

...“The widespread lack of documentation of traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, could stymie former military members seeking medical care or disability payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs or the services, the study warns... ‘Any policy that rests on a veteran being able to produce documentation of the TBI would therefore be inadequate,’ Nevin said.”

TBIs MIA: An Estimated 30,000 Undocumented Bruised Brains

Mark Thompson, April 30, 2014

...“In recent years, the U.S. military has generally been reactive, rather than proactive, in responding to public health crises, including suicide, psychotropic drug misuse, and gaps in wounded warrior care,” says Remington Nevin, a co-author of the study.

Pentagon Directs Defensewide Use of Army’s Mental Health Data Portal

Bob Brewin, October 31, 2013

“...Dr. Remington Nevin, a former Army epidemiologist... said, “The Army’s development of BHDP is further evidence of the costly failure of AHLTA, [the Defense Department’s] primary electronic medical record system, and of an increasingly fragmented and service-driven medical documentation system that highlights continued redundancies and unhelpful rivalries across the military medical services.”

Malaria

The Challenges of Malaria Prevention for Women at War

Reid Paul, June 10, 2015

“...Remington L. Nevin, MD, MPH, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and author of “Issues in the Prevention of Malaria Among Women at War” in the new book Women at War discusses the challenges in preventing malaria in deployed women, the lack of clinical trial data on the impact of antimalarial drugs on women, and the recent success in avoiding malaria in Liberia...”

Mefloquine Mondays

Daniel Costa-Roberts, June, 2016

"The first hint of the crisis that would come to define Capt. Remington Nevin’s career appeared one morning early in January 2007, in the form of an Army medic holding a black plastic garbage bag in his outstretched hands."


"The man stood at the exit of Fort Bragg’s “Green Ramp” staging area, where Nevin and the rest of his unit in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division had waited restively to board a jet that would fly them on the first leg of their journey to Afghanistan. As the soldiers filed out onto the runway, each was instructed to grab a packet of meds from the garbage bag. Nevin, the unit’s new preventive medicine doctor, did as he was told when his turn came. Without looking, he reached in and pulled out a cardboard package filled with dime-sized, chalky white tablets of an antimalarial called mefloquine hydrochloride, also known by its trade name, Lariam."

Results of scientific inquiry into malaria drugs used by US troops expected in March

Patricia Kime, December 26, 2019

“[Dr.] Remington [Nevin] also noted that the current lack of a specific mefloquine poisoning diagnosis is a reflection that the Defense Department and VA have never formally acknowledged the side effecs of mefloquine".


"'[They] have never acknowledged, much less train their clinical workforce to recognize, that certain signs and symptoms that can mimic those of PTSD or TBI, and several other neurologic and psychiatric disorders, are in fact caused by nothing more than the lasting effects of the drug', Nevin told MIlitary Times".

Burn Pits and other Toxic Environmental Exposures

Burn pits, battlefield toxins, disabled troops and the fight for data

Jeffrey E. Phillips, August 14, 2018

“‘VA is doing what it normally does: stall for time under the guise of scientific uncertainty,’ said Dr. Remington Nevin in an August 2018 article in The American Legion magazine. Nevin served in Afghanistan with the Army as a preventative medicine officer. ‘The time to act is when you have plausible evidence that veterans are ill and dying because of their exposure to burn-pit smoke — not certainty.’”

Burn pits: A sick veteran waits for science to confirm his suspicions

Chris Harland-Dunaway, May 5, 2018

“...Remington Nevin, a former Army epidemiologist says ‘the epidemiology is beside the point! We have a clear biological understanding of how exposure to harmful chemicals in burn pit smoke causes various cardiopulmonary diseases and various cancers’”.

Act of Justice: New law  delivers relief for veterans poisoned in service

Ken Olsen, October 2022

“Nor does the PACT Act cover cardiovascular health risks among burn-pit veterans despite a consensus that such smoke causes heart disease,says Remington Nevin, an Army veteran and occupational medicine specialist who helps veterans establish evidence connecting exposure to illnesses when pursuing VA claims.”

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