My name is Allen Jones. I am a “whistleblower” who has sought the protection of the federal courts to tell the following story

AllenJonesTMAPJanuary20.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Prescribed antipsychotics aged 3!

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Hat tip: http://seroquellawsuitblog.blogspot.com/

What were AstraZeneca's senior management telling Wall Street about Seroquel ten years ago?

Looks like full marks from
Dr John Patterson back in 2001

But wait! There's more:

Martin Nicklasson 2002

Nigel Doran 2004

Geoff Birkett 2004

"Drug marketing is a very sophisticated system which corrupts every part of the scientific and medical network,"

A FLINDERS University study has exposed "corrupt" drug company marketing practices including covering up adverse side effects and pushing patients on to new, more expensive drugs even when they are less effective.

Psychiatrist Peter Parry and American colleague Glen Spielmans studied 400 internal emails and research documents unearthed mainly through court cases.

"Drug marketing is a very sophisticated system which corrupts every part of the scientific and medical network," Dr Parry said.

Dr Parry said one disturbing finding was that, regardless of the health benefits, drug companies were pushing patients towards their own patented drugs because they could make bigger profits. Such products were called "blockbuster drugs" in the industry because they could make more than $1 billion in profits.

The documents, sourced from US and European companies which also market and sell their products in Australia, indicate:

INSTRUCTIONS to sales representatives not to mention weight gain side effects of the drug Zyprexa.

HIDING the weight-gain side effects of anti-psychotic drug Seroquel.

EXAGGERATING the benefits of Seroquel over an existing medication.

DISTORTION of research trials by excluding the results of some patients, not publishing the findings or making up statistical reasons to exclude some "bad apple" results.

GHOST writing of medical journal articles by marketers with the names of doctors used as "honorary" authors.

All of the drug companies involved rejected the conclusions of the study, published in the journal Bioethical Inquiry, arguing the documents on which it is based are taken out of context as evidence in court cases.

Dr Parry said while he supported the use of drugs in psychiatry, all results of research should be made available to prescribing doctors.

Source

This is a "must read"! - Marketing Based Medicine

Contact Glen Spielmans for a copy

Or access it here

Abstract: While much excitement has been generated surrounding evidence-based medicine, internal documents from the pharmaceutical industry suggest that the publicly available evidence base may not accurately represent the underlying data regarding its products. The industry and its associated medical communication firms state that publications in the medical literature primarily serve marketing interests. Suppression and spinning of negative data and ghostwriting have emerged as tools to help manage medical journal publications to best suit product sales, while disease mongering and market segmentation of physicians are also used to efficiently maximize profits. We propose that while evidence-based medicine is a noble ideal, marketing-based medicine is the current reality.

Ed Silverman gets the New Year off to a flying start

A great review in Portfolio.com: Drugging kids for profit

Atypical antipsychotics for depression - now Dr Steve Nissen steps in

"This is very worrisome; frankly I have serious concerns about these drugs," says Dr. Steven Nissen, who is chairman of the Cleveland Clinic's cardiovascular medicine department and serves as an ad hoc advisor for FDA panels. Studies point to a "very questionable balance between efficacy and safety" for the class, he said. But that message, he said, has been lost in an apparent "marketing bonanza" for the companies that make the medications.

LA Times

Lilly - Zyprexa: “The company’s deceptive marketing practices were illegal and highly dangerous,”

So says Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of Illinois.

Eli Lilly has agreed to pay $62 million to 33 states to settle claims that it improperly marketed Zyprexa, its top-selling drug, to patients who did not have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, its only approved uses.

The agreement may also be a sign that a much larger deal is near in a separate but related civil and criminal investigation led by federal prosecutors in Philadelphia. In that case, Lilly is expected to pay more than $1 billion in fines and restitution to states and the federal government and may also plead guilty to a misdemeanor criminal charge related to off-label marketing of Zyprexa.

NYT

Lilly - Zyprexa: sweet dreams

Eli Lilly said on Thursday a long-acting form of its schizophrenia drug Zyprexa will likely become available in the United States in the "near future," based on favorable signals from U.S. regulators.

Chief Executive John Lechleiter said Lilly's optimism is based on recent meetings between the company and the Food and Drug Administration, which in February had rejected the injectable form of Lilly's biggest-selling medicine.

The FDA, in issuing its "not approvable" letter, had said it needed more information to better understand the risk and underlying cause of excessive sedation seen in about 1 percent of patients given the injectable formulation in clinical trials.

More at Reuters

Lilly settles in Alaska

US drug giant Eli Lilly has agreed to pay the state of Alaska $15 million to settle claims that its Medicaid programme was not adequately warned over potential side effects from the use of its antipsychotic Zyprexa.

Zyprexa (olanzapine) first hit the US market in 1996 and is approved for the short- and long-term treatment of schizophrenia, acute mixed or manic episodes of bipolar I disorder, and maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. Since its introduction, the drug has been prescribed to around 23 million across the globe, and pulled in sales of $1.27 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.

However, the class of atypical antipsychotics - and in particular Zyprexa it seems - are associated with hyperglycaemia and other side effects such as altered lipid levels and weight gain, and the lawsuit alleged that the state of Alaska and its healthcare providers were “insufficiently warned about possible side effects relating to weight gain, high blood sugar and diabetes, causing harm to the state's Medicaid recipients and increased costs to the state”.

The lawsuit asked that Lilly pay the state for those costs as well as civil penalties under the Alaska Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Act. But, while the company has agreed to hand out $15 million to settle the claims, it stressed that the agreement “involves no admission of wrongdoing”.

“We believe this settlement is in the best interest of the company, the state, and, importantly, of the patients, families and healthcare professionals for whom Zyprexa is an important treatment option,” commented Robert Armitage, Lilly's senior vice president and general counsel, adding: “Our decision to resolve this case does not change the fact that Zyprexa can continue to improve the lives of patients around the world who are suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder”.

Lilly is, however, still facing a stream of legal challenges by other US states over Zyprexa, the most recent being a lawsuit by Conneticut claiming that the firm marketed its antipsychotic for unapproved off-label uses and hid side effects such as weight gain and diabetes.

Announcing the lawsuit earlier this month, the state’s Attorney General Richard Blumenthal claimed that the company “allegedly corrupted physicians, pharmacies and administrators at nursing homes and youth detention centres as part of a massive illegal marketing campaign” to promote Zyprexa, notably among children, for anxiety, depression and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and that it also “dangerously concealed” risks associated with the drug’s use.

Eight other US states have filed suit over Zyprexa and Lilly is currently in talks with the Attorney General in Philadelphia and several states regarding a possible settlement, although the drugmaker insists that the claims are without merit.

By Selina McKee
Source: PharmaTimes