[Bob Dawson]

Just had a moment of nostalgia and thought I would check in to see how things are going over at Amgen, other than, of course, GDNF.

All text below is by Jim Edwards at Placebo Effect:

Amgen and the Supremes: Did the CEO Know About a Kickback Scheme?

http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-busine...tag=nl.rSINGLE

The scheme was so successful, that Amgen produced an Excel spreadsheet, marked “For Information Only,” that detailed how a 300 mL vial of Aranesp would normally be reimbursed by Medicare at $1,422. With the overfill, doctors could get Medicare to reimburse them $1,661.

…If there’s a management lesson here, it’s, “if you are operating a kickback scheme at work, don’t create a financial model of it in an Excel file.”

http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-busine...nt-slides/3360

The case is doubly controversial as five unnamed Amgen executives and a medical officer manager have asserted their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination in order to avoid being questioned in depositions about the alleged scheme…

http://www.bnet.com/blog/drug-busine...readsheet/7582

[Conductor71]

Wow. One of my favorite original thinkers referred to our diseased govt institutions. I know he didn't have the FDA in mind but I thought of them immediately. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medecine and FDA critic, has written some scathing pieces on pharma; shoddy research, FDA corruption. Nothing changes. I suspect Medtronic has a lot to do with why Duodopa is being held up.