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Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs Melody Petersen See book keywords and concepts

In 2005 two sales reps from schering-plough paid to take an Iowa physician to a strip club in Cedar Rapids called Woody's at his request. The drug company later fired the sales reps, saying their trip to see nude dancers had gone too far. One of the salespeople explained why she had agreed to the doctor's request during a hearing at which she successfully pleaded for unemployment benefits. "He was a target that I had to actually, physically, track for the company," she testified at the hearing. "He had the potential to be a big prescriber and to increase my market share.

Too Profitable to Cure Brent Hoadley, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

In June 2004, Gardiner Harris reported that schering-plough sent checks to practicing physicians for consulting.18 These checks were actually a way of saying "thank you for prescribing our drugs." In 2003, the BMJ cover shows pigs in white coats lunching and golfing with weasel drug reps. The power of drug companies to buy influence in every key health care area has clearly shocked the UK parliamentary committee.

Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs Melody Petersen See book keywords and concepts

Then there were the companies that tried to extend their rich monopolies by introducing what they said were new and improved versions of products that had become wildly successful. schering-plough was preparing to sell Clarinex, which it said was even better than its best-selling allergy drug Claritin. Forest Laboratories brought out Lexapro, claiming it had beaten its star product, the antidepressant Celexa, in clinical trials. And AstraZeneca began selling its new "purple pill.

This can be understood by listening to a conversation between an FDA physician who was considering whether to approve the allergy drug Claritin and a scientist who was working for schering-plough, the drug's maker. The FDA medical officer, Dr. Sherwin D. Straus, was not convinced that Claritin actually worked at the very low dose of ten milligrams that Schering planned to sell. The company had kept the dose low because it wanted to advertise Claritin as the first "nonsedating" antihistamine.

Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry Is Medicating a Nation Charles Barber See book keywords and concepts

Sounds good, but there's a problem with Caplan's moral high horse: he himself consults for the drug and biotech industries and runs a center funded in part by Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and schering-plough. But no need to worry: as a sign of concern for the influence of industry interests, the American Medical Association has planned a $590,000 program to raise doctors' awareness of the ethical problems of accepting drug industry gifts. The initiative came about as a result of gifts from Pfizer, Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Procter & Gamble, and Wyeth-Ayerst.

Update on Senate bill S.1082 and implications for the health freedom of consumers Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler and executives from pharma heavies Abbott Laboratories, schering-plough, Eli Lilly and Wyeth will all serve on BIO's board of directors, according to a press release the group put out today. Meanwhile, the chairman of PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industry's own trade group, is Amgen chief Kevin Sharer... Action item: Please keep up the pressure to protect dietary supplements, functional foods, and free access to your natural health options. Click here to get information on contacting your senators. Here's a sample letter you can use to send to your senator.

The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman Peter Rost See book keywords and concepts

Schering-Plough Pays Record Fine In 2002, schering-plough, another major pharmaceutical manufacturer, also signed a FDA consent decree and paid a $500-million fine, the highest monetary settlement in FDA history.31 They had violated manufacturing regulations at the firm's New Jersey and Puerto Rico plants. The decree affected how the company manufactured about 125 different prescription and over-the-counter drugs at their Puerto Rico and New Jersey facilities. As part of the decree, the company also agreed to suspend manufacturing seventy-three other products.

Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs Melody Petersen See book keywords and concepts

The letter promoted a new drug called Clarinex, sold by schering-plough. Schering also sold Claritin, but the patent on that product would soon be running out, allowing other companies to sell it in a low-priced generic form. Schering marketers were working desperately to switch patients taking Claritin to the company's new product, Clarinex, although the two drugs were almost indistinguishable. The letter said that Duane Reade "felt it was our responsibility to make you aware" of the new Clarinex.

Generation Rx: How Prescription Drugs are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies Greg Critser See book keywords and concepts

The whistleblower tactic is now being imitated around the country, fueled in no small part by ambitious prosecutors and a small provision in the whistleblower statutes that allow informants to share in the massive settlements. schering-plough has since ponied up $350 million. Tap Pharmaceuticals: $875 million. Bayer: $257 million. And Merck, for abusing its Merck-Medco database: $30 million. Sometime soon, there will be hell to pay in shareholder meetings. And there were the trial lawyers, who were now partying over the creation of a whole new arena of combat and lucre.

The senior vice president of schering-plough said simply, "We do not believe it is in the public health interest." The president of Searle wrote that it was "dubious that the potential risks could be presented clearly, or, if so, remembered by the consumer." The chiefs of more than a dozen other major firms concurred. The major medical societies were against DTC as well. Many believed it would lead to widespread self-medication. Worse, "consumers," one physicians' group chief concluded, "will come to regard prescription drugs as any other consumer good.

Big Pharma: Exposing the Global Healthcare Agenda Jacky Law See book keywords and concepts

In May 2001, when Claritin had been successfully stripped of its prescription-only status, the allergy drug was bringing in $2 billion a year, which was a third of the income of the company schering-plough, that had the marketing rights. Moreover, much of this income could be directly attributed to recently introduced liberalization of the laws that control what a drug company can say about prescription drugs to the consumer. One analyst estimated the company had generated $3.50 in extta Claritin sales for every advertising dollar spent.

Generation Rx: How Prescription Drugs are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies Greg Critser See book keywords and concepts

Much of that had been spent in various foreign operations for schering-plough. In Japan, he had spearheaded a number of that company's new drug rollouts, among them the popular allergy pill Claritin. He was charming, engaged, genuinely optimistic, and agile. In short, everything the board — and stockholders — would want in a leader. Wild had also been around long enough to know that taking a new job with an old-line pharmaceuticals firm, regardless of its storied past, carried huge potential for career destruction.

Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition: A Practical A-to-Z Reference to Drug-Free Remedies Using Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs & Food Supplements Phyllis A. Balch, CNC See book keywords and concepts

Dermatologists usually prescribe a cleansing lotion containing a drying agent with sulfur and resorcinol, or a medicated product called Diprosone from schering-plough, to clear up dandruff. Q See also seborrhea in Part Two. DEAFNESS See hearing loss. DEPRESSION Depression affects 22 percent of Americans aged eighteen and older (one in five adults) every year, making it one of the most common medical problems in the United States. It affects young and old, and is twice as common in women as in men.

Generation Rx: How Prescription Drugs are Altering American Lives, Minds, and Bodies Greg Critser See book keywords and concepts

That is what marketing executives at schering-plough discovered not long ago, when they simply began mailing out unsolicited $10,000 checks to leading liver specialists. The checks were consulting fees that required nothing other than that the physician agree to prescribe Intron A, Schering's drug for hepatitis C. The physicians were also offered $1,500 a head for each patient put on Intron A and entered into a clinical trial for the drug. The trials required little more than the writing up of case notes,- patients and their insurers, however, had to pay for the costly drug.

As John Landis, a senior vice president for pharmaceutical sciences at schering-plough, related a recent experience to the New York Times's Gardiner Harris, "You would think that a party with their wives would be a friendly, safe gathering. But the conversation quickly got around to why the costs of medications are so high, why does the drug industry spend so much on marketing, and why is there greater access to medicines outside the United States. They were unconvinced. So finally I had to say, 'Sooo, how about that football game?'

Death by Medicine Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, Dorothy Smith PhD. See book keywords and concepts

The indictment against schering-plough came after the Public Citizen Health Research Group, lead by Dr. Sidney Wolfe, called for a criminal investigation of schering-plough, charging that the company distributed albuterol asthma inhalers even though it knew the units were missing the active ingredient. UNNECESSARY SURGICAL PROCEDURES Summary: 1974: 2.4 million unnecessary surgeries performed annually resulting in 11,900 deaths at an annual cost of $3.9 billion.73'74 2001: 7.5 million unnecessary surgical procedures resulting in 37,136 deaths at a cost of $122 billion (using 1974 dollars).

The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman Peter Rost See book keywords and concepts

There was more to come for schering-plough. In 2004, the company paid $345 million to resolve criminal and civil liabilities for illegal marketing of Claritin. The settlement agreement included a criminal fine of $52.5 million for violating the Anti-Kickback Statute. They were also forced to sign a corporate integrity agreement.32 This is a company that has fought against reimportation of drugs, claiming it could jeopardize patient safety, and it can't even manufacture its own drugs safely.

The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers Katharine Greider See book keywords and concepts

One FDA reviewer had suggested a higher dose was called for, but Claritin in higher doses might produce the same muddle-headed feeling that troubled users of much cheaper over-the-counter antihistamines, depriving schering-plough of a critical selling point. As Hall's less-than-flattering portrait of the blockbuster gained currency, schering-plough responded by insisting its ads adhered to FDA regulations and that moreover, in the words of a company spokesperson, "no amount of marketing ... can sustain a drug that's not effective.

The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman Peter Rost See book keywords and concepts

That was whether Darren, who now worked at schering-plough, would ever give me a reference. When I had pressured him before he left Pharmacia, he had confessed that he was concerned of what Gertrude and Fred would say if he helped me, and that he hoped to go to work for them. Now he was working for them, and I wondered if his concern remained now that he was safely employed. All I asked, in fact, was that he simply be honest and objective about my performance at Pharmacia and stand by what he had written in my performance reviews.

Our Toxic World: A Wake Up Call Doris J. Rapp, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

A drug called Intron-A, a cloned version of interferon, has been developed by schering-plough Corporation (908.298.4000), to fight viruses and stimulate the immune system.61 This will be tried only on those patients who have developed encephalitis or inflammation of their brain from this infection. This same vaccine is supposed to help those patients with Hepatitis C, which is in the same class of viruses as the West Nile. THE MOSQUITO CHALLENGE71"b 80 105 The remainder of this chapter discusses how you can protect yourself against infected mosquitos without being hurt from the treatment.

Intron-A, schering-plough Corporation. 2000 Galloping Hill Rd., Kenilworth, NJ 07033-0530. 908.298.4000. 62 Mold Contamination Bills and Laws, Aerotech Laboratories, Inc., 800.651.4802, e-mail dated August 15, 2002. 63 www.safesolutionsinc.com. 64 Barry, John M., "Misplaced Fear of a Viral Epidemic," August 10, 2002. www.nytimes.com/2002/08/10/opinion/10BARR.html. 65 "Pesticides Used in Massachusetts to Control WNV Could Affect the Lobster Industry," www.meepi.org/wnv/overkillma.htm. 66 Cavazos, Jamie, "Dog, Cat Health Unaffected by West Nile; Horses Need Vaccine," U.S.

Toxic Sludge is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies and the Public Relations Industry John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton See book keywords and concepts

Hill & Knowlton executive Nina Oligino used a similar "cross-pollination" strategy in 1994 to line up national environmental groups behind a coalition called "Partners for Sun Protection Awareness," a front group for Hill & Knowlton's client, drug transnational schering-plough. Best known for Coppertone?sun lotion, schering-plough uses the coalition to "educate" the public about the dangers of skin cancer deaths, cataracts and damaged immune systems due to the atmosphere's thinning ozone layer and increased ultraviolet radiation. The campaign urges people to "liberally apply a sunscreen . . .

The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It Marcia Angell, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

Astra-Zeneca patented Nexium, a form of Prilosec, and got three years' FDA exclusivity for it. schering-plough patented Clar-inex, which is what Claritin turns into in the body, and got five years' exclusivity for that. Eli Lilly launched Sarafem, which is simply Prozac used for premenstrual tension, and got three years' exclusivity for that. (Lilly also patented weekly Prozac.) But what I did not discuss was how these same companies were simultaneously using Hatch-Waxman and the pediatric extension to fend off generic competition. Let's look at that strategy now.

But in fact, according to The Washington Post, the movement was begun by schering-plough, which makes Rebetron, the primary treatment for hepatitis C. Rebetron costs $18,000 a year. The advocacy groups are likely to increase sales by making the disease more widely known and putting pressure on insurers to cover treatments. That may be a good thing, but the company apparently kept its sponsorship largely hidden.

Drug companies pay doctors several hundred dollars a day to allow sales reps to shadow them as they see patients, a practice called a "precep-torship." One schering-plough rep explained that "it's another way to build a relationship with the doctor and hopefully build business." That was very candid of her. But patients should not be used for that purpose. Meetings with doctors in their offices are extremely valuable to drug companies, and they've become valuable to doctors as well. It's a symbiotic relationship.

That means schering-plough can market Clarinex as an improvement, even though it is simply what Claritin turns into after it is swallowed. But there is no reason to think Clarinex is an improvement. It was approved for the additional use only because the company decided to test it for that use. If they had tested Claritin for indoor allergies, it would undoubtedly have been the same as Clarinex—because it is the same.

Death by Medicine Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, Dorothy Smith PhD. See book keywords and concepts

Sidney Wolfe, called for a criminal investigation of schering-plough, charging that the company distributed albuterol asthma inhalers even though it knew the units were missing the active ingredient. UNNECESSARY SURGICAL PROCEDURES Summary: 1974: 2.4 million unnecessary surgeries performed annually resulting in 11,900 deaths at an annual cost of $3.9 billion.73'74 2001: 7.5 million unnecessary surgical procedures resulting in 37,136 deaths at a cost of $122 billion (using 1974 dollars).3 It's very difficult to obtain accurate statistics when studying unnecessary surgery. Dr.

The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It Marcia Angell, M.D. See book keywords and concepts

He was then a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination and was reportedly being flown around the country on campaign stops in Schering-Plough's Gulfstream executive jet. The company also hired the lobbying firm that employed Scott Hatch. As it turned out, the bill was apparently too embarrassing even for the U.S. Congress, and nothing came of it. The pharmaceutical industry supports a variety of front groups that masquerade as grassroots organizations. One of these is Citizens for Better Medicare, supposedly a coalition of senior citizen groups.

Death by Medicine Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, Dorothy Smith PhD. See book keywords and concepts

The May 2002 Washington Post reported that the maker of Claritin, schering-plough Corp., was to pay a $500 million dollar fine to the FDA for quality-control problems at four of its factories.72 The FDA tabulated infractions that included 90%, or 125 of the drugs they made since 1998. Besides the fine, the company had to stop manufacturing 73 drugs or suffer another $175 million dollar fine. PR statements by the company told another story. The company assured consumers that they should still feel confident in its products.

Disease Prevention and Treatment The Life Extension Editorial Staff See book keywords and concepts

For instance, the FDA found that pharmaceutical giant schering-plough was making asthma inhalers that did not have any medication inside. Acute asthma attacks suffocate 5438 Americans every year (National Vital Statistics Reports Vol. 48, No. 11). With no medication in an inhaler, any asthma attack can be lethal. The FDA repeatedly found the same problem with these asthma inhalers (no medicine inside), but it took Schering years to correct the problem. The FDA is making Schering pay a $500 million dollar fine to settle the matter (Wall Street Journal Dec.

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