Canada’s most-watched current affairs show, CTV’s W5, closes out a season of powerful new stories that have challenged, informed, and educated viewers with an investigative look at how wonder drug Mirapex, used to treat Parkinson’s Disease, has shattered the lives of some Canadians.
Premiering Saturday, April 24 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV, “The Dark Side,” uncovers shocking side effects of Mirapex (pramipexole), including hyper-sexuality and compulsive gambling. The episode features a second story also reported by Victor Malarek, “Fool’s Gold”, in which W5 examines how the Golden Gate Funds promised huge financial returns, but was apparently a Ponzi scheme, resulting in devastating financial losses for unsuspecting Canadian investors. The episode airs again on Sunday, April 25 at 12 noon on CTV and at 1 p.m. ET on CP24 and then on demand on the CTV Video Player at CTV.ca (visit CTV.ca for local listings).
In “The Dark Side,” Malarek meets two Canadians, Anna Ringas, of Cobourg, ON, and Clearwater, B.C. native Raymond Harrison, whose lives were devastated after they began taking Mirapex to control the nasty effects of Parkinson’s Disease. While the prescription drug did control the degenerative disease for many patients, it also unleashed irresistible impulses for some – including hyper-sexuality and compulsive gambling and shopping. Neither Ringas nor Harrison were warned of the compulsive behaviour that could result from taking Mirapex. It was only after American patients were warned of the side-effects by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, that Health Canada and Boehringer Ingelheim, the maker of Mirapex, warned Canadians of the dreadful side effects. Both Ringas and Harrison are currently suing the drug company.
In “Fool’s Gold”, Malarek takes an investigative look at Ernest Anderson, the founder of Golden Gate Funds LP. Malarek meets Golden Gate victims, like Georgette and Norm Hawe, volunteer Salvation Army ministers who spent a lifetime opening their hearts to help the less fortunate and are now faced with spending their last days in poverty and without a home. Golden Gate’s business portfolio boasted a Board of Directors that listed reputable names like former Prime Minister John Turner and ex-RCMP Commissioner Norman Inkster, a list W5 discovers was fictitious. Anderson has been ordered by the Ontario Securities Commission to pay back investors. So far, clients have not seen a penny and have contacted several police forces including the RCMP in search of justice. Meantime, Anderson remains tucked away in a 7,000 square foot mansion in Richmond Hill, Ontario, refusing to be interviewed.
