As part of the settlement
with the Justice Department, Lilly agreed to plead guilty to one
misdemeanor violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act related to the
off-label promotion of Zyprexa between 1999 and 2001. The guilty plea
says Lilly promoted the drug in elderly people as treatment for
dementia, including Alzheimer’s, although the drug isn’t approved for
such use.
…
Lilly had been accused of persuading doctors to prescribe Zyprexa to
children and the elderly, despite the fact that the drug wasn’t
FDA-approved for those patient groups–and the knowledge that it was
particularly risky for them to take. As you know, Zyprexa has been
shown to cause excessive weight gain and to boost the risk of death in
elderly patients with dementia. …
Yes, indeed,
the agents of quackery have taken over the Skeptical Science community.
They’ve never met an FDA-approved pharmaceutical they didn’t like, nor
a natural health modality they didn’t hate. They believe vaccines are
perfectly safe, but feeding a child a multivitamin is dangerous. …
Dr. Regier has forced psychiatrists
participating in the DSM process sign a secrecy agreement, and he has
refused to respond to contacts from organizations such as
MindFreedom, despite encouragement from World Health Organization. …
MindFreedom
International has been speaking out about Dr. Fred Goodwin’s
misbehavior since 1992 in Washington, D.C. during one of our many
national peaceful protests of the American Psychiatric Association. …
According to the Washington Times, pharma could see a
$30 billion reduction in revenues if the government starts to negotiate
drug prices as many other countries do. …
There’s nothing more sacred than the physician-patient relationship, and we
physicians have the responsibility to make sure nothing gets in the way of that
relationship–or even appears to get in the way.” …
the industry looks fairly safe, despite the U.S. financial crisis, but others
say that because of the potential tax hit, U.S. drug companies are more likely
to go into debt than to repatriate cash. …
According to a new Datamonitor report, cash-rich drugmakers are poised to take
advantage of the credit crunch, in part because they didn’t
overdose on the cheap debt that has trapped so many companies now that credit
has dried up. …
This $62 million settlement is dwarfed in comparison with previous Zyprexa
deals, including a $1 billion resolution of several thousand patient-safety
claims. …