The satire was biting:
"Thanks for making time to see me today," posted a rep on cafepharma about a fictitious sales meeting with a psychiatrist. "Now, I know that you used Neurontin in the past for every condition under the sun. Pfizer knows very well that you guys were and still continue to be the largest writers of off-label Lyrica and so, in the spirit of Bextra [withdrawn in 2004] will you please write Lyrica as much as possible? Remember Dr, this is Pfizer. The company that never met an off-label sale that it wouldn't cover-up."
Don't forget, writes the next poster on the pharma site, the psychiatrist answers, "Great! and I also heard that it is about to be approved on state Medicaid and I can write it for anything. Is this true?" to which the rep assents in defiance of, "that nice little 2004 CIA agreement."
Pfizer's nice little 2004 "CIA" or Corporate Integrity Agreement in which a company promises to sin no more to which the poster refers was for fraudulent marketing of seizure drug Neurontin. It was preceded by a CIA for fraud related to Pfizer's cholesterol drug, Lipitor, in 2002.
And this month it's followed by a CIA for mis-marketing pain drug Bextra, antipsychotic Geodon, seizure drug Lyrica and antibiotic Zyvox.
Pfizer's $2.3 billion health care fraud settlement with the government announced this month by the US Department of Justice adds some firsts to the world's biggest pharmaceutical company.
It is the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice "to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products,"--and the largest criminal fine ever imposed in the United States. It covers Pfizer's kickbacks to health care providers and false claims submitted to government health care programs, also known as our tax dollars, in violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Forty-three states will share in the "give backs."
But it is not exhaustive.
READ MORE @ COUNTERPUNCH
Showing posts with label Geodon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Geodon. Show all posts
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
FDA Throws Lifeline to Antipsychotic Pushers
On June 11, 2009, FDA News reported that AstraZeneca’s Seroquel, Pfizer’s Geodon and Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa atypical antipsychotics "won an FDA advisory panel’s recommendations for approval to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in pediatric and adolescent patients."
"The FDA's expanded marketing approval process for antipsychotics, highly toxic drugs, is unaffected by evidence uncovered by the US Justice Department showing that the studies submitted by drug manufacturers were often flawed, if not fraudulent," says Vera Hassner Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, in a June 8, 2009 infomail alert.
"Rather than focus on protecting children's safety, FDA officials are doing their utmost to legitimize irresponsible, off-label prescribing of exceedingly toxic antipsychotics for children--thereby ensuring that far greater numbers of children will be victimized and die," according to Sharav.
A recent report by the consulting firm Decision Resources found antipsychotics makers spent $993,000,000 in 2006, to promote these drugs to doctors and patients, she reports. In 2008, at more than $14 billion, antipsychotic revenues topped all other classes of drugs in the US, even cholesterol and diabetes medications.
READ MORE @ COUNTERPUNCH
"The FDA's expanded marketing approval process for antipsychotics, highly toxic drugs, is unaffected by evidence uncovered by the US Justice Department showing that the studies submitted by drug manufacturers were often flawed, if not fraudulent," says Vera Hassner Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, in a June 8, 2009 infomail alert.
"Rather than focus on protecting children's safety, FDA officials are doing their utmost to legitimize irresponsible, off-label prescribing of exceedingly toxic antipsychotics for children--thereby ensuring that far greater numbers of children will be victimized and die," according to Sharav.
A recent report by the consulting firm Decision Resources found antipsychotics makers spent $993,000,000 in 2006, to promote these drugs to doctors and patients, she reports. In 2008, at more than $14 billion, antipsychotic revenues topped all other classes of drugs in the US, even cholesterol and diabetes medications.
READ MORE @ COUNTERPUNCH
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Lilly’s Zypreza, Pfizer’s Geodon could see reimbursement restrictions next year
Psychiatric drugs like Eli Lilly’s Zyprexa could be next on the list for reimbursement restrictions based on comparative effectiveness data, experts in the field told Pharmawire.
The move would also spell trouble for AstraZeneca’s Seroquel and Pfizer’s Geodon, two commonly prescribed and costly antipsychotics. Cost pressures will be felt most acutely starting in June, when the patent expires on Johnson & Johnson’s competing product Risperdal.
Public and private payers have been fueling the growing interest in compiling data that allows them to compare different drugs within the same therapeutic category. The information then helps shape reimbursement programs - like step therapy, where patients are required to try a cheaper drug before a more expensive one will be covered.
Tanisha Carino, a director at research firm Avalere Health and former policy analyst at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, noted that mental health is a prime target for using comparative effectiveness data to make coverage decisions.
The National Institute of Mental Health is already sponsoring the large-scale Clinical Antipsychotics Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (also known as CATIE), which have shown that older, less expensive drugs can be as effective as newer ones. The data is rife with cost effectiveness comparisons.
READ MORE @ FINANCIAL TIMES
The move would also spell trouble for AstraZeneca’s Seroquel and Pfizer’s Geodon, two commonly prescribed and costly antipsychotics. Cost pressures will be felt most acutely starting in June, when the patent expires on Johnson & Johnson’s competing product Risperdal.
Public and private payers have been fueling the growing interest in compiling data that allows them to compare different drugs within the same therapeutic category. The information then helps shape reimbursement programs - like step therapy, where patients are required to try a cheaper drug before a more expensive one will be covered.
Tanisha Carino, a director at research firm Avalere Health and former policy analyst at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, noted that mental health is a prime target for using comparative effectiveness data to make coverage decisions.
The National Institute of Mental Health is already sponsoring the large-scale Clinical Antipsychotics Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (also known as CATIE), which have shown that older, less expensive drugs can be as effective as newer ones. The data is rife with cost effectiveness comparisons.
READ MORE @ FINANCIAL TIMES
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