[olsen]

http://mostlywater.org/bitter_pill_h...illion_bonanza

Bitter Pill: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Turned a Flawed & Dangerous Drug into a $16 Billion Bonanza
Contributed by blackandred on Mon, 2009-07-20 19:00.
In sections: International United States Corruption Drugs Health Science/Technology
Bitter Pill

Created to treat schizophrenia, Zyprexa wound up being used on misbehaving kids. How the pharmaceutical industry turned a flawed and dangerous drug into a $16 billion bonanza

By BEN WALLACE-WELLS; Feb 05, 2009 - Rolling Stone (Issue 1071)
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...69107/bitter_p...



"...As data from the studies emerged, Robert Rosenheck — the Yale psychiatrist, who helped analyze the findings for the NIH — began to see significant divergences between the government studies and those produced by the pharmaceutical companies. Again and again, the government found, the new drugs were no more effective in treating schizophrenia than the old drugs, which were far cheaper. In addition, the atypicals appeared to dramatically increase the risk for diabetes and other often fatal illnesses. The great advertisement for the new drugs — that because they didn't cause the Parkinson's-like symptoms of the older drugs, patients would stay on them for longer — turned out to be substantially exaggerated as well.

"What you have is both industry and opinion leaders claiming this is a breakthrough drug," Rosenheck says. "And then three large government-funded studies come out, and none of them finds evidence of a breakthrough."

Puzzled by the discrepancies, Rosenheck began to work back through the original studies. What he found was not one smoking gun but a number of small manipulations. Researchers in the original Lilly study, he concluded, had not only skewed the results by concealing data that contradicted their preferred outcomes, they had also failed to administer drugs commonly used to offset the side effects of the older antipsychotics — a decision that made the older drugs perform worse in the clinical study than they did in the real world.

By the time the studies were completed, however, the damage was already done: More than 20 million people worldwide have now taken Zyprexa. As the problems leaked out, lawyers for consumers and states began to look carefully at the industry's atypical studies and the methods the drug companies used to promote their products. In October, Lilly agreed to pay $62 million to 32 states to settle claims that it improperly marketed Zyprexa for off-label uses. "The company's deceptive marketing practices were illegal and highly dangerous," according to Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of Illinois. Although Lilly admitted no wrongdoing, the settlement was the largest ever paid by a drug company in a state consumer-protection case. On January 15th, Lilly agreed to pay an additional $1.4 billion to settle federal charges of illegal marketing — a record settlement in a corporate whistle-blower case.

But the penalties pale in comparison to the money that Zyprexa makes for the company. In 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, the drug generated $4.78 billion in sales, accounting for 25 percent of Lilly's total revenues. As Rosenheck reviewed the marketing history of the atypicals, he concluded that misleading data told only part of the story. "How did this happen?" he wondered. "How did this product that's not very advantageous wind up being marketed as a great advance?" Part of the underlying cause, he concluded, lay in the privatization that began with the Reagan revolution. "Ultimately, the conservative turn — with its faith in deregulation and the virtual infallibility of markets — are at the root of what allowed this to happen," he says..."

[paula_w]

madelyn, there seems to be no limit to what an unethical and immoral society will do.

awful!
paula

[Chemar]

the very word Zyprexa makes my blood run cold! and then my anger burn hot!!



it was rx for my son with Tourette Syndrome and nearly killed him, no exaggeration!

the only good thing I can say about it is that the effects it had on him were so frightening and severe that it was the "final straw" that made us switch to a drug free alternative treatment protocol, which has been remarkable in helping him!

[paula_w]

double axil as they call it along with weak fingers. sorry

[paula_w]

I have never that i recall had a bad reaction to a med. it is the worst feeling and nothing relieves it. you want to die. where do we start putting an end to the drug industry domination? I know a few people at BIO- they are already calling for presentations. Last time i was interviewed about what patients could do to help BIO and vice versa; they interviewed me slurred speech and all but i never really checked to see if it was ever used. i think it would be viewed positively. where's peg?

we would have to be analytical [critical in a very nice way] but helpful. i like the people i have met at Bio Conferences and think they might consdier it but already asking for presentations. we would have enough from the book research.

we need to give this some thought. i'll find out where it is next year.

time is not neutral, and the world is full of evil people who will stoop to anything. iF patients don't start speaking up its not going to change,

Originally Posted by Chemar

the very word Zyprexa makes my blood run cold! and then my anger burn hot!!



it was rx for my son with Tourette Syndrome and nearly killed him, no exaggeration!

the only good thing I can say about it is that the effects it had on him were so frightening and severe that it was the "final straw" that made us switch to a drug free alternative treatment protocol, which has been remarkable in helping him!

[olsen]

Paula, I marvel at your determination and dedication. I know there are many hard working, compassionate individuals within the BIO world. Unfortunately, they are not in charge. Money is in charge.
and Chemar, how frightening your son's experience with Zyprexa. what to say? You have my sympathy and understanding,

[mrsD]

This is why some people call the Eli Lilly company--

Welie Lilly.

Zyprexa is not the only drug they have lied about.
Oraflex (removed from the market for liver damage)
Prozac (hidden agitation symptoms concealed in studies)
are other examples.

In fact if you visit Cafepharma.com and read that company board, you'll find Welie Lilly used often there.
In fact if you search Zyprexa there, you will find a thread discussing a Doctor in the trials for Zyprexa who shredded documents of patients who experienced sudden death on this drug. Zyprexa can cause long QT syndrome in some patients.