Betreff:
More on the
Bribes the Shrinks Get from Big Pharma |
Von: Dorothee Krien |
Datum: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 19:56:35 +0100 |
The article by Evelyn Pringle may be of
interest to your readers.
Regards,
Dorothee
http://4thoutlawpsychiatry.blogspot.com/
MORE ON THE BRIBES THE SHRINKS GET FROM BIG PHARMA, AND SOME OFFICIAL
STATISTICS
by
Justice Lover
The article below was emailed to me today by Lynn Michaels of SSRI-Research,
and of tapersafely.org . Written by American investigative
journalist, Evelyn Pringle, her article proves once more the criminal
partnership between psychiatry and Big Pharma. The
shrinks prescribe "generously" the psychiatric poisons produced by
Big Pharma, and get in return "generous" bribes from Big Pharma. The
bribe taking by the shrinks is no longer secretive, as it is done in open
daylight, with complete zionist-type impunity. The reason for it is obvious :
the shrinks have nothing to fear as the entire ruling class and the entire
state apparatus are supporting them.
Here
is the article/report :
* http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/01347/doctors-paid-to-prescribe-drugs.html*
Influence peddling in the field of psychiatry is out of control
by Evelyn Pringle
Washington, DC
September 2, 2007
An analysis of Minnesota disclosure records by
the Pioneer Press and the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen showsthat,
between 2002 and 2006, 187 Minnesota doctors received payments from drug
companies worth a grand total of $7.38 million. No other field of medicine even
comes close to that amount. The next highest specialty was neurology, with 99
doctors receiving $2.89million, according to the analysis.
In psychiatry, drug makers underwrite decision makers at every levelof
care, according to a May 10, 2007, report by Gardiner Harris inthe New York
Times. "They pay doctors who prescribe and recommend drugs, teach about
the underlying diseases, perform studies and write guidelines that other
doctors often feel bound to follow," Mr Harris states.He determined that,
between 2000 and 2005, payments to Minnesota
psychiatrists increased more than six-fold.
The Times also analyzed Minnesota Medicaid
records, and the report provides details on how the financial relationships
between doctors and drug makers have played a major role in the growing use of
atypical antipsychotics with children.The drugs include Zyprexa,
marketed by Eli Lilly; Seroquel, byAstraZeneca; Risperdal, marketed by Johnson
& Johnson subsidiary Janssen; Geodon, sold by Pfizer, and Abilify, from
Bristol-MyersSquibb.The drugs are the most powerful psychiatric drugs on the
market and were FDA-approved only to treat adults with schizophrenia or adults
in the manic phase of bipolar disorder.Over the past three years, every
atypical maker has come under firefor influencing doctors to prescribe the
drugs off-label to childrenfor uses never approved by the FDA, and they are all
currently involved in litigation related to the illegal promotion and sales of
the drugs.
A study at Columbia University on the use of
antipsychotics with children found that only a small percentage of the kids on
the drugshad psychotic disorders and that, most of the time, the drugs were
prescribed to treat mood disorders, depression, anxiety and ADHD.Mr Harris
reports that the Minnesota psychiatrists who received the most money from the
drug's makers tended to prescribe them to kids the most often. On average,
psychiatrists who received at least$5,000 between 2000 to 2005 appeared to have
written 3 times as many prescriptions for kids as psychiatrists who received
less or no money, the Times notes.
The rising Medicaid costs for atypicals also coincides with the rising
payments to doctors. For instance, Minnesota Medicaid spent roughly $521,000 in
2000 on antipsychotics for children; but in 2005, the cost was more than $7
million, or a 14-fold increase.In June 2007, Vermont officials revealed that
disclosure records in that state showed payments to psychiatrists had more than
doubled in one year, from an average of $20,835 in 2005, to an average
$45,692in 2005. There, too, antipsychotics were among the highest Medicaiddrug
expense.The drug makers have shrinks in their pockets
all over the country.However, only 3 states, Minnesota, Vermont and Maine, have
laws that require companies to disclose their payments.
The media's recent reporting that members of a Minnesota advisory panel who
decide which drugs will be covered by the state's Medicaid program are on the
take, adds a new chapter to an old book. This same scam has been used in states
all over the country since the late 1990's, and if not for two relentless fraud
investigators from Pennsylvania, the fact that the formulary committees are
bought andpaid for by the pharmaceutical industry might have remained a secret
for all time.
The fact that drug makers were bribing state
policy makers and members of advisory panels with the ultimate goal of
capturing the lucrative Medicaid customer base to increase the sale of
psychiatric drugs was first discovered several years ago by Allen Jones, while
he was a federal fraud investigator in the Pennsylvania Office of Inspector
General Bureau of Special Investigations, and Dr StefanKruszewski, a pediatric
psychiatrist by trade, who was hired by the Pennsylvania Department of Public
Welfare to review the quality of care provided to persons covered by state
programs.According to Mr Jones, "the pharmaceutical industry has
systematically infiltrated the mental health service delivery system of this
nation."
"The situation uncovered in Minnesota, " he says, "will
be exposed in every state that demonstrates the political will to force
transparency through full disclosure of industry payments to decision
makers."
"Thinly veiled bribery of public officials
by the pharmaceutical industry is a pervasive and deeply rooted problem,"
he warns.During his investigation in Pennsylvania, Mr Jones found a drug money
trail to key policy officials who controlled the Medicaidpreferred drug list in
that state, which eventually led him to Texas and an elaborate scheme that
involved influential psychiatrists,including many who served as professors at
Texas universities, and state policy officials who developed the preferred drug
list known as the "Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP)".Mr
Jones calls the Texas panel the "most transparent example" of
industry influence, because all of the project directors had financial ties to
the drug makers. It was put into effect, he says,by buying off doctors who were
considered "opinion leaders" in the psychiatric field, along with
state policy makers in positions of authority with control over the preferred
drug lists.
For instance, Dr John Rush, from the University of Texas Southwestern
Medical Center, served as the TMAP Project Co-Director with Dr Steven Shon, the
Medical Director of the Texas Department of State Health Services.Mr Jones
determined that Dr Rush had received grants, research funding and served as a
consultant and speaker for atypical makers Bristol-Myers, Janssen, Eli Lilly
and Pfizer.The director for the schizophrenia module was Dr Alexander Miller,of
the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who also served
as a consultant, advisory board member and speaker for AstraZeneca,
Bristol-Myers, Lilly, Janssen and Pfizer. ( http://www.wpic.%20pitt.edu/%20STANLEY/4thbipco%20nf/introduction
).
Research on the Texas Medication Algorithm Project(TMAP) Schizophrenia
Algorithms partially supported by Abbott,Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly,
Forest Laboratories,Glaxo-Wellcome, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Novartis, Pfizer,
SmithKlineBeecham, Wyeth-Ayerst (pharmaceutical division of American
HomeProducts), and AstraZeneca. (J Clin Psychiatry. 1999;60:649-
57.;http://www.psychiatrist.com/pasttoc/toc/october1999/ab109901.htm;
accessed 12/30/03)
- Vince>** **
http://psychiatry.%20uthscsa.edu/%20Searches/%20SearchProfileDat%20a.asp?ID=accessed 3/4/05) Research on the
efficacy and tolerability ofZyprexa (olanzapine) , Quetiapine (seroquel) and
Risperdal(risperidone) in the treatment of first episode psychosis funded
byAstraZeneca. ( http://psychiatry.uthscsa.edu/Searches/SearchProjectsData.asp?ProID=122
;accessed 2/23/04) Research on the
efficacy and safety of Depakote(divalproex) in the treatment of the manic phase
of bipolar disordersupported by Abbott Laboratories. ( http://psychiatry.uthscsa.edu/Searches/SearchProjectsData.asp?ProID=92
;accessed 2/23/04) Received financial
support from AstraZenecaPharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer,
JanssenPharmaceutica, and Eli Lilly. (Am J Psychiatry. 2004;161:1334- 49.)Research
on the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP)schizophrenia algorithms
partially supported by Abbott Laboratories,Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly,
Forest Laboratories, Glaxo-Wellcome(now GlaxoSmithKline) , Janssen
Pharmaceutica, NovartisPharmaceuticals, Pfizer, SmithKline Beecham,
Wyeth-Ayerst(pharmaceutical division of American Home Products),
andAstraZeneca. (J Clin Psychiatry. 1999;60:649- 57.) The director of
the bipolar disorder module was Dr Patricia Suppes,from the University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas,who also received grants and research
funding and served as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers, Janssen,
Lilly and Pfizer.
Other University of Texas professors who
participated in the development of TMAP included psychiatrist Dr Graham Emslie,
who has received grants and research support and served as a consultant and
member of speakers' bureaus for atypical makers Bristol-Myers, Lillyand Pfizer.*http://www3. utsouthwestern.
edu/psychiatry/ facbios/emslie. htm;accessed 6/16/03) - Vince>*Another
professor, Dr Karen Dineen Wagner, was a member of the speakers' bureaus for
Janssen, Lilly and Pfizer, and a member of a scientific advisory board for
Lilly, Janssen and Pfizer and received research funding from the same 3
atypical makers and Bristol-Myers.
Once the formulary was in place in Texas, the drug makers paid Dr Shon
to travel around the country to convince policy makers in other states to use
the TMAP model for their Medicaid approved list. Pennsylvania adopted the
program and called it PennMap. Mr Jones found that Janssen paid for Dr Shon to
fly to Pennsylvania two times, and a document he obtained shows that the grant
covering Dr Shon's travel expenses was "to expand atypical usage." The
New York Times reported that some payments were made through patient advocacy
groups instead of directly to state officials. In 2002, Janssen gave the
Olympia, WA, chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill a grant of
$15,000 to fly Dr Shon and other Texas officials to speak to state legislators
about the formulary, the Times found.
While reviewing the medical care provided to
patients under state care in the summer of 2002, Dr Kruszewski immediately
recognized that a mass drugging-for-profit scheme involving Medicaid
patients,especially children, was taking place in Pennsylvania, and that
several patients had died.In one case, where the child fortunately survived, Dr
Kruszewski found that the girl had been placed on 11 psychiatric drugs at the
same time, including 5 antipsychotics, without ever being diagnosed with a
psychiatric disorder. She exhibited impulsive behaviors and was mentally
disabled, but there was nothing in the records to justify the use of all these
drugs, he says. According Dr Kruszewski, the atypicals are associated with an
increased the risk of obesity which can lead to diabetes type II,hypertension,
heart attacks and stroke. The weight of the girl who was on 11 drugs had
ballooned from 106 pounds to 194, Dr Kruszewski found.In reviewing patient
records, he found a state-wide pattern wherepatients who were not mentally ill
were placed on cocktails of 3 or more expensive psychiatric drugs at the same
time and kept on the cocktails indefinitely and if patients experienced side
effects from the original medications, more drugs were added to the mix.
The sheer greed evidenced by the mass drugging of patients on Medicaid
all over the US, similar to that discovered by DrKruszewski in Pennsylvania,
has forced state Medicaid programs to either put a stop to the drug maker's
encouragement of the rampant prescribing of atypicals or go broke.For instance,
Texas Medicaid was charged nearly $15 million for antipsychotics for foster
children in 2004, according to theDecember 2006 Special Report, "Foster
Children - Texas Health CareClaims Study." http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/hccfoster06/
In fact,Texas spent more money on antipsychotics for foster kids than
anyother class of drugs, and the report said, Zyprexa, Seroquel and Risperdal
typically cost an average of $229 per prescription.The report also pointed out
that the drugs were not approved for children, and listed the health risks
associated with the atypicalsand stated, in part:"These very powerful and
expensive medications were prescribed despite a lack of studies demonstrating
their safety and efficacy in children. There are questions regarding the
long-term safety of these medications; documented serious side-effects include
menstrual irregularities, gynecomastia, galactorrhea, possible pituitarytumors,
hyperglycemia, type 2 diabetes and liver functionabnormalities. "In a May
10, 2006 Press Release, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said she was
"particularly concerned" about the use and side effectsof the
atypical antipsychotic drugs."A clear pattern of overmedication and
potential misdiagnosis of foster children is evident," she said and the
"potential for Medicaid fraud and the possibility of long-term health
problems inthese children is alarming."
A USA TODAY study of FDA data from 2000 to 2004
found 45 pediatric deaths in which atypicals were the primary suspect, with at
least six related to diabetes and other causes ranged from heart and pulmonary
problems to suicide, choking and liver failure. A 15-year-old boy died of an
overdose, an 8-year-old boy died of cardiac arrest, a 13-year-old girl
experienced diabetic ketoacidosis, a deficiency of insulin, and the youngest
death was a 4-year-old boy whose symptoms suggested diabetes complications, who
was also taking 10 other drugs. A July 29, 2007, report by Robert Farley in the
St Petersburg Times revealed that in the last 7 years, the cost to Florida tax
payers for atypicals prescribed to children jumped nearly 500%, from
$4.7million to $27.5 million, and on average in 2006, it cost the state nearly
$1,800 for each child on atypicals.Mr Farley reported that last year, more than
18,000 kids on Medicaid were prescribed antipsychotics including 1,100 under
the age of 6 and some as young as 3, even though guidelines from the Florida
Agency for Health Care Administration say children younger than 6 should
generally not be given psychotropic drugs and they should"only be
considered under the most extraordinary of circumstances. "According to Mr
Jones, these new "miracle" drugs have proven to be no better than
generics, and, "it is a statistical certainty that many lives have been
lost and many others irreparably damaged."
In September 2005, the New England Journal of Medicine, reported that
although Zyprexa was the most expensive and most prescribed antipsychotic, it
was the only atypical that worked slightly better than the 40-year-old generic
drug< http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/NEJMoa051688
>,perphenazine, but the NEJM also noted that Zyprexa had more side
effects. The cost for a 3 month supply of Zyprexa in September, 2005at drugstore.com, was $1,500, while a 3 month supply
of perphenazine was only $135.And the atypical drugging for profit scheme is
not limited to theMedicaid population. An analysis revealed in March 2006
byinvestment firm CIBC World Markets showed that in the previous 12months, the
top 20 drugs in managed care spending included Zyprexawith $2.6 billion,
Seroquel at $2.5 billion, and Risperdal was $2.2billion.
The corrupt psychiatrists in Minnesota and
other states might want to think about what is happening to "professionals"
who were involved in similar behavior in Pennsylvania and Texas.In
Pennsylvania, the state Ethics Commission determined that Pfizer operated its
own "Advisory Boards," comprised exclusively of formulary committee
chairmen from various states who received honorariums and all-expense-paid
trips from Pfizer at the same time they were evaluating Pfizer drugs for use in
state mental healthsystems.The Commission determined that Steven Fiorello,
Director of thePharmacy Services in the Office of Mental Health and Substance
AbuseServices in Pennsylvania, and Chairman of the Formulary Committee,had used
his office to obtain private pecuniary benefits for his participation in
Pfizer's advisory board meetings in New York when he received honoraria for his
participation in the meetings, as wellas for his presentations at conferences
in Orlando, Florida andDublin, Ireland.Mr Jones found that Mr Fiorello traveled
to Pfizer's worldheadquarters in Manhattan 3 times to participate in advisory
boardmeetings, with all expenses paid for by Pfizer, including lodging at
Manhattan's Millennium Hotel and he was paid an honorarium of $1,000for
attending each meeting.The Commission also found a number of additional
violations,including Mr Fiorello's receipt of honoraria from other companiesfor
whom he made presentations in connection with his publicemployment, and ordered
Mr Fiorello to make restitution of$27,268.50 and referred the case to the
Pennsylvania AttorneyGeneral's Public Corruption Unit.On November 21, 2006, Mr
Fiorello was charged with two counts ofconflicts of interest, one count of
accepting honoraria and onecount of failing to disclose income on annual
Statements ofFinancial Interests. In a press release, Pennsylvania' s
AttorneyGeneral stated: "As part of his responsibilities, Fiorello served
on a committee that decided which drugs would be used for mental health
treatment in all state hospitals - decisions which guided more than$9 million
in annual drug purchases by the Commonwealth. "He also noted that,
"while Fiorello was helping to guide the purchase of various drugs by the
Department of Public Welfare, he was also paid more than $12,000 by drug
companies for appearances,speeches and presentations, as well as service on a
drug companyadvisory board."
Down in Texas, Dr Shon was fired last fall after the state'sattorney
general found that Janssen had improperly influenced him to list Risperdal on
the state formulary. An October 9, 2006, letter to Dr Shon from Dr Charles
Bell, acting commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services,
obtained by the AustinAmerican-Statesman states: "It is my determination
that your services are no longer required by the Department.I am, therefore,
terminating you as the Medical Director forBehavioral Health effective immediately
", Dr Bell wrote.In addition, Texas is now closely monitoring the
prescribing of psychiatric drugs to Medicaid patients, and several
psychiatrists have been ordered to reimburse the state for the cost of the
drugs they prescribed to foster children.Texas and Pennsylvania have also
recently filed Medicaid fraudlawsuits against the makers of Zyprexa, Risperdal
and Seroquel, seeking to recoup the cost of the drugs prescribed to Medicaid
patients, as well as the medical care for persons injured by the drugs.
(Emphasis by Justice Lover)
sondaughtersdad