Pfizer Paid Doctors Millions To Push Their Drugs

This week it was confirmed, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals pimped out a number of hospitals, paying them and doctors $35 million to push their medicines. The Judiciary Report has seen firsthand how this can be detrimental and wrote about this issue last year in a series of articles ("Off Label Use", Good And Bad Pharmaceutical Drugs, Scientists Call For Drug Database and Manufacturer Knew Vioxx Was Bad).

It's dangerous paying doctors money to push certain medicines on patients, as that particular pharmaceutical drug may not be the best choice and do more harm than good.

Doctors should be free to customize treatment regarding what they deem best, on a patient by patient basis, not hock a certain drug in a category of illness, because a pharmaceutical giant is pressuring and paying them to do so. Patients lose out in the end. Each infirmed person needs the best medicine suited to their particular situation.

Drug companies should be barred from this practice when it is pay for play on a drug with serious side effects.

Pfizer Paid Doctors, Hospitals $35 Million

MARCH 31, 2010, 10:56 P.M. ET - Pfizer Inc. said Wednesday it paid about 4,500 doctors and hospitals $35 million during the second half of last year to study how the company's medicines work and to promote the treatments, in its first public disclosure of payments to the professionals and institutions that test and prescribe its products.

Drug companies have been under pressure from some members of Congress and physicians to reveal their payments. The health overhaul passed recently requires disclosures of certain physician payments starting in 2013. But Pfizer faced a more immediate deadline for revealing its payments: It agreed to ...

http://online.wsj.com

Something In The Water

Japanese researchers have been issuing the international recommendation that all nations put the alleged mood stabilizing drug Lithium in public water systems. They are of the belief it will help the crime rate. I disagree with the idea of mass drugging.

Not only is it a drastic approach, there are many things to consider, such as how Lithium in the water would interact with other medications people are taking, allergic reactions and the potentially serious side effects for babies, children and even adults.

Fox News Covers Mass Drugging of Society with Lithium

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 - In the remarkable Fox News report posted below, Dr. Archelle Georgiou, described as a well-recognized physician leader who “helps consumers make better health care decisions,” argues the case for adding lithium to the water supply. Georgiou is affiliated with the Center for Health Transformation, an organization founded by the notorious neocon Newt Gingrich.

Georgiou is also a “medical expert” for Fox News 9 in Minneapolis where she commented on a proposal to drug people during a segment on “Health Care Innovations 2009.”

“Lithium in the Water Supply: America has been adding fluoride to its public water supplies for decades to help prevent reduce tooth decay. Now researchers from Japan suggests expanding the list to lithium,” is how how Fox News 9 describes the segment.

Georgiou does not explicitly call for adding the mood-stabilizing drug to the water system, as suggested by Japanese researchers, but she does not denounce the proposed practice. Instead, she says the draconian proposal is a “very interesting concept.”

Japanese researchers, according to Georgiou, are “investigating whether trace amounts of lithium can just change the mood in a community enough — in a really positive way without having the bad effects of lithium — to really affect the mood and decrease the suicide rate.”...

http://www.prisonplanet.com

"Off Label Use" - Terrible Topamax And Topiramate

Topamax also known as Topiramate

Recently, I stumbled on a website with over 700 complaints submitted about the drug Topamax also known as Topiramate in its generic form (click here). It is one of many sites with such complaints from the public. Topamax is a migraine medicine its manufacturer marketed for what is known as "off label" use, which is prohibited under U.S. law.

Currently, another troublesome drug with bad side effects, in the same class as Topamax, named Neurontin (Gabapentin), has been sued by the government for breaking the law, in pushing their product for "off label" use to maximize profits.

"Off label" use means a pharmaceutical drug that is created to target one medical issue/affliction/disease, being promoted and prescribed for other medical problems/diseases.

Topamax is an anti-convulsant, used to treat migraine headaches. However, to make a fortune in sales, its manufacturer started a big promotional push to foist it on the public as a mood stabilizer, pain reliever (nerve pain), weight loss drug and epilepsy/seizure anti-convulsant.

People have flooded numerous websites complaining about Topamax and how it horribly impacted their lives. People reported a terrible combination of side effects such as deep depression, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, shaking, bone depletion leading to bone breakage, hair loss, kidney stones, memory loss, changes in bowel movement, blurred vision, vision loss, glaucoma, anorexia, inability to find words on a page, slurred speech, speech loss, psychosis, dizziness, uncomfortable and sometimes painful tingling in the hands and feet, insomnia and extreme fatigue. ALL THAT TO STOP A HEADACHE!

Topamax is a terrible drug that has ruined many lives. Many people that were on it, even for a short period of time, experienced terrible side effects. Some people lost their marriages, friendships and jobs, as they could not function anymore, due to what the drug did to them. Some were even admitted to psychiatric wards, as the drug did that much harm to their brains.

Amazingly, once again, to maximize profits, the manufacturers are marketing Topamax and Topiramate as anti-depressants, when it resulted in a number of suicides. That is an oxymoron.

Topamax caused suicides in some, as it so altered the brain chemistry of some people that took the medication, they became extremely depressed, very agitated and committed suicide, seeking to escape that unexplainable fog that enveloped their minds and terrible anxiety that afflicted them while taking it, leaving them feeling completely hopeless and devoid of basic reasoning. Do not take your life. Things will get better, but you need to be weaned off the pharmaceutical drug creating the terrible changes.

Topamax has many lawsuits against it in court for the aforementioned terrible side effects. My question is, after all the thousands of horrible reports on the drug, why is it and its generic component, Topiramate, still on the market, damaging the public's health, under the guise of alleviating (not curing) migraines. Clearly, these side effects are not rare, as way too many people have them.

Why are doctors still being given financial incentives to write prescriptions for this terrible drug, with so many serious complaints against it.

What's even more perplexing is Topamax being prescribed in tandem with other drugs in its class such as Neurontin (Gabapentin), forming a powerful, terrible cocktail, wreaking havoc on people's health.

Another issue of concern is, no proper instructions have been issued on reversing the terrible side effects of these drugs, leaving patients to suffer, with the only manufacturer warning being, see your physician.

However, some doctors, not all, seeking to dodge culpability in prescribing them, are not taking responsibility for their patients' deteriorating physical problems that resemble a neurological disorder, stemming from the pharmaceutical drugs, nor are they providing adequate care in addressing the awful side effects, as that would mean admitting something has gone wrong.

They will make excuses claiming the side effects are very rare or they've never heard of such a thing, when there are thousands of complaints and lawsuits concerning the serious damage the aforementioned pharmaceutical drugs have done to many. Nice way to honor the Hippocratic Oath (not!).

RELATED ARTICLE

Good And Bad Pharmaceutical Drugs

Good And Bad Pharmaceutical Drugs

Do Not Take Topamax (Topiramate) - It Is Dangerous

Modern medical science has presented the world with quite a few discoveries. Some good, some bad. Take for instance, the Polio vaccine did wonders for many.

The modern pharmaceutical industry sometimes exemplifies the term "trial and error." They often guess and it becomes evident when they run trials on a drug, it fails, then they change the disease or affliction they wish to target (Flibanserin). That's called guesswork.

Ibuprofen is a drug that has helped many with pain relief, with few, if any side effects. It is one of the better pharmaceutical drugs that have been created, which has been well tolerated by many. However, it is not right for everyone, as it can act as a blood thinner.

However, there are some horrific pharmaceutical drugs out there, which create worse side effects than the medical problem they are designed to address.

For example, Topamax, is a terrible pharmaceutical drug. It is meant to target migraine headaches, but many people have reported serious side effects such as blurry vision, blindness, severe depression, hair loss, anxiety, heart palpitations, psychosis, tingling in limbs, trouble finding words when reading, confusion, aggressiveness, fatigue, feelings of dread, loss of appetite, memory loss and in the worst cases, a number of suicides.

Is it worth all that to stop migraines - NO! Topamax has a number of lawsuits against it and deservingly so. What it has done to the health and well being of many is disgraceful.

Neurontin (Gabapentin) is a drug currently embroiled in a number of lawsuits for wrongful death, as it put some patients at a high risk for suicide, resulting in a number of deaths. It also created severe anxiety, shaking, dry mouth, throat pain, fatigue, stomach pains, confusion, kidney stones, hallucinations, dizziness, acidosis, memory loss and heart palpitations in many. It is supposed to target seizures, but is being marketed for other uses such as relief from nerve pain, which is debatable and the treatment of bipolar disorder.

It was recently discovered, pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer, tampered with Neurontin studies. There needs to be transparency regarding Neurontin, as the current lawsuits indicate there is deceptiveness on the manufacturer's part. Consumers don't deserve that.

Tegretol (Carbamazepine) is another drug that has some issues, in that it is meant to target items such as seizures, but it lowers the white blood cell count, which decreases the effectiveness of the immune system. They need to work on that.

When a person is sick, they need the best care available. Conflicts of interest can arise, when some doctors are on a pharmaceutical company's payroll, as has been found in a number of cases.

Some pharmaceutical drug makers mean well, but some are reckless and looking for a profit at any cost, even if it means putting a product on the market that test trials revealed is very dangerous.

It's one thing when a drug company does not know what the side effects and long term effects are, but it is quite another when they do, but rush the product out anyway, killing people, for a quick buck.

Another issue is drug interactions, as quite a few drugs are not meant to be taken in tandem with others. A number of celebrities have overdosed in this manner.

Life and health are so precious. At the end of the day, everyone deserves proper medical care and the best pharmaceutical products available. Drug companies, doctors, nurses and hospitals should bear that in mind when they show up for work, as when you put yourself ahead of the patient, you will fail. Then it becomes about you and not making people better.

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Pfizer Broke the Law by Promoting Drugs for Unapproved Uses

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Prosecutor Michael Loucks remembers clearly when lawyers for Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug company, looked across the table and promised it wouldn’t break the law again.

It was January 2004, and the attorneys were negotiating in a conference room on the ninth floor of the federal courthouse in Boston, where Loucks was head of the health-care fraud unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. One of Pfizer’s units had been pushing doctors to prescribe an epilepsy drug called Neurontin for uses the Food and Drug Administration had never approved.

In the agreement the lawyers eventually hammered out, the Pfizer unit, Warner-Lambert, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of marketing a drug for unapproved uses.

New York-based Pfizer agreed to pay $430 million in criminal fines and civil penalties, and the company’s lawyers assured Loucks and three other prosecutors that Pfizer and its units would stop promoting drugs for unauthorized purposes.

http://www.bloomberg.com

Justice eyes marketing at J&J, Forest

November 10, 2009 — 12:23pm ET - It looks as if yet another U.S. drug-marketing investigation is about to be settled. As Dow Jones reports, Forest Laboratories has reached a tentative deal with the feds, which would settle civil allegations that it mismarketed antidepressants and a thyroid drug. But the deal wouldn't cover the government's "ongoing investigation into potential criminal law violations." So Forest isn't exactly out of the woods yet...

Or if you're Johnson & Johnson, you disclose a laundry list of subpoenas from the feds on both coasts, plus grand jury summons, related primarily to the marketing of antipsychotic Risperdal, as well as the seizure drug Topamax and congestive heart failure remedy Natrecor. As In Vivo recounts today, J&J was mentioned in a press release about last week's Justice Department deal with Omnicare, and recent SEC filings detail the many investigations the company is now dealing with. Whether the probes spawn civil and/or criminal settlements remains to be seen.

http://www.fiercepharma.com