The Drug Companies' Newest Profit Weapon to Steal Your Money

The drug industry spends nearly twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, and historically one of their key targets has been physicians.

The Drug Companies' Newest Profit Weapon to Steal Your Money

Government Muscle

Government Muscle

Forest Labs is a pharmaceutical company based out of New York City. Among their best-selling products are antidepressants known as Celexa and Lexapro. Two years ago, Forest was sued under the federal False Claims Act for marketing these drugs to both adults and children, even though the government had only approved them for use with adults. The suit alleged that Forest promoted these drugs with a “sock puppet” favorable study pushed to the American Journal of Psychiatry, and engaged in various kickback schemes with doctors.

High court questions constitutionality of drug data-mining law

High court questions constitutionality of drug data-mining law

The Supreme Court cast doubt Tuesday on efforts by states to limit drug manufacturers' use of information about the prescription drugs that doctors like to prescribe.

Are prescription ads prompting patients to self-diagnose

A study done by Consumer Reports shows one in five people go into a doctor's office asking for a prescription, by name, before ever being diagnosed.

$1,000 a Pop: How Forest Labs Bribed Doctors to Prescribe Antidepressants to Kids

Forest Labs (FRX) appears to have initially underestimated how much it needed to pay the feds to go away: In 2009, the company said it had set aside $170 million in case it needed to settle a Department of Justice investigation of the kickbacks it paid in its marketing of Celexa and Lexapro, two antidepressants. Today, the company paid $313 million to wrap up the probes.

$1,000 a Pop: How Forest Labs Bribed Doctors to Prescribe Antidepressants to Kids

Corporate Integrity Agreement Between OIG HHS and Forest Laboratories Inc

Missouri drug manufacturer fined for marketing antidepressants to children

Missouri drug manufacturer fined for marketing antidepressants to children

Drug maker Forest Laboratories of Earth City is paying 313-million dollars to settle criminal and civil complains filed against it by the federal government.

The Manufacturing of Madness: Profits Before Progress

The Manufacturing of Madness: Profits Before Progress

Drug companies have been instrumental in promoting psychiatric diagnoses designed to market drugs. These corporate giants persuade consumers that a gamut of what may be common human feelings can be interpreted as serious psychopathology. They even invent diagnoses in a way that will best sell costly and profitable drugs. People suffering from emotional problems are often duped into adding to corporate profits and become distracted from the possibility of making progress in coping with their pain.

Pfizer Officials Sued by Investors

A union pension fund has sued drugmaker Pfizer, saying that directors should be held liable for the company's repeated violations of federal laws governing drug-marketing practices that resulted in the company having to pay a $2.3 billion settlement.

Pfizer Officials Sued by Investors

Medicating Children: A “Whistleblower’s” Lawsuit Raises a Novel Legal Question

In the past few years, a number of pharmaceutical companies have admitted to federal charges that they illegally marketed psychiatric medications for non-approved uses, with the companies paying large sums to settle the cases. Now, a legal complaint filed by the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights in an Alaskan federal court is raising a related question. When healthcare providers bill Medicaid for prescriptions of psychiatric drugs to children for non-approved uses, are they committing Medicaid fraud?

Medicating Children: A “Whistleblower’s” Lawsuit Raises a Novel Legal Question

Dr. Bonkers presents The Nearly Genuine and Truly Marvelous Psychoneuropharmacological Mental Medicine Show

Dr. Bonkers presents The Nearly Genuine and Truly Marvelous Psychoneuropharmacological Mental Medicine Show

Online gallery of modern and vintage psychiatric drug advertising.

AstraZeneca Agrees To Fines: Ct To Get $3.15 Million

AstraZeneca Agrees To Fines: Ct To Get $3.15 Million

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner Michael P. Starkowski announced that Connecticut will receive $3.15 million under an agreement in principle with AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP for alleged off-label marketing of Seroquel, and antipsychotic drug, for uses unapproved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Rise Of Marketing-Based Medicine

You’ve heard of evidence-based medicine. Well, a new paper summarizes a panalopy of practices employed over the past two decades or so - ghostwriting, suppressing or spinning data, disease mongering and managing side effect perceptions among docs - that the authors call marketing-based medicine. And they rely on internal documents from litigation - such as the much-publicized lawsuits over antipsychotics and antidepressants - to illustrate their point.

More >> The Rise Of Marketing-Based Medicine