Pharmaceutical Whistleblowers

Settlement Produces Money But No Apologies in Florida

Boehringer Ingelheim Corp., generic-drug manufacturer, is paying $8.5 million to settle fraud claims, yet the company still admits to no wrong-doing.The claims are that the company inflated the price of generic drugs but charged the pharmacies less. In turn the pharmacies had a larger profit margin from Medicaid reimbursements. The larger gap between reported cost and actual cost brought more

2010-01-06T13:08:00.005-05:00

Drug Rep Blowing a Whistle

Sarah Thomas is a pharmaceutical sales rep. She is also a football official.Not exactly the whistleblowing we are interested in , but I could not pass up the "humor?"If you are interested in full artcile.

2010-01-06T12:45:00.005-05:00

Whistleblower, John Kopchinski, Recognized as 2009's Most Influential Person In Business Ethics

John Kopchinski lost his job for "not being a team player" when he exposed Pfizer's illegal marketing and sales of Bextra. The painkiller was being marketed at potentially lethal dosages and uses.Former sales member turned hero, Kopchinski played a vital role in the record $2.3 million settlement. Ethisphere named him the "Most Influential Person In Business Ethics in 2009."A very well deserved

2010-01-06T12:31:00.003-05:00

Merck Ignored the Risk of Heart Attack with Vioxx for Four Years

For four years Merck turned a deaf ear to the research linking Vioxx to increased risk of heart attack, a large 35 percent increase in cardiovascular event or death. In 2002 Dr. David Graham testified that there was evidence that 88,000 to 139,000 people had suffered heart attacks as a side-effect of taking Vioxx. Thirty to 40 percent of those people died. That's possibly 55,000 people that died

2009-12-08T15:59:00.003-05:00

KY Attorney General, Jack Conway, Is On Our Side!

That sounds like a cheesy slogan, but since he took office in January 2008, Jack Conway has made some headway at making Big Pharma pay. He is running for US Senate in 2010. Here is hoping we see more of him soon! Below are links mentioning what he has done for his state's Medicaid program and his website. If you can see through the political mumbo-jumbo, it really seems as if he is one of the

2009-12-02T21:20:00.002-05:00

Chicago Psychiatrist Claims Anti-Psychotic Drug Helps With Weight-Loss Despite The Obvious With His and Others' Patients

For ten years AstraZeneca LEGALLY compensated Dr. Michael Reinstein, a Chicago psychiatrist, to promote Seroquel and claim that he has research that suggests it helps lose weight in addition to its anti-psychotic "benefits." There is real research that proves not only does the drug not promote weight-loss but causes weight gain and can lead to diabetes.Reinstein became so valuable to AstraZeneca

2009-11-18T12:09:00.009-05:00

Prof Mohammed Hani; The Real Deal

Webster's defines hero as "a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities."Why is it that despite the undeniable evidence that Prof Mohammed Hani is a real-live hero, there are still some within the Medical and Pharmaceutical worlds that shun him and resent his dedication to his patients and truth?This man used his scientific training and compassion for others to uncover the reason his

2009-11-12T13:32:00.004-05:00

Omnicare and Ivax Admit No Wrong-Doing BUT Settle For $112 Million To "Avoid Expensive Litigation"

Omnicare and Ivax have decided to settle for $112 million to "avoid expensive litigation" for alleged drug kickbacks but claim they've done nothing wrong? Omnicare will be paying $98 million and Ivax $14 million plus interest.I can only begin to imagine how much they are covering up if they thought $112 million would be the cheaper way out. These companies have made so much money through fraud

2009-11-12T13:03:00.004-05:00

Lou Gehrig's vs HPV

Aside from the other 40-something deaths possibly being linked to Gardasil, the vaccination is now the prime suspect in the deaths of two young girls, ages 17 and 20, with Lou Gehrig's Disease. Both girls started showing symptoms within months of starting the vaccination. Sadly 70% of HPV infections clear on their own within one year and 90% within two years. Regular screenings by a doctor can

2009-10-29T22:35:00.002-04:00

Why Would Dr. Harper Deny HPV Vaccines Statements?

Dr. Diane Harper is now saying she did not make statements about Cervavix or Gardasil being dangerous and deadly. She has been quoted by several news sources speaking out about some of the possible side effects and about the question of its actual effectiveness. Now that she is denying this I am wondering why? Who got to Dr. Harper?

2009-10-29T22:24:00.004-04:00

Drug Company Research Sources

Blow your own whistle!

Blow the Whistle on Off Label Marketing

"Pfizer made a conscious decision to do something illegal--marketing this drug … more...

Dotson One, Amgen None

Do you have a whistle to blow? You should know this!

Sometimes the Big Guy loses. A judge … more...

FDA Watch

PharmaGossip

Looking beyond the spin of Big Pharma PR. But encouraging Gossip.

Matt Herper mixes Facebook and medicine
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/05/18/four-ways-to-make-medicine-more-like-facebook/?

Whistleblower Law Blog

Stop Fraud! Report Businesses That Defraud the Government

Avandia Cases Are Getting Ready to Settle or Explode

Avandia cases are getting ready to settle or explode:

GlaxoSmithKlien is ready to either pay out or be bleed to death in Avandia cases. Recently they agreed to pay $3 Billion dollars to the Feds to avoid criminal and civil penalties and a trial. That case dealt, at least in part, with improper marketing of their defective drug, Avandia. Over the past few years Plaintiff lawyers have gathered and filed over 30,000 Avandia injury cases in a multidistrict litigation. This is because Avandia was supposed to control diabetes but was actually causing heart attacks. Glaxo knew of the heart attack danger but covered it up. Now Glaxo has settled over 10,000 of 30,000 cases in the MDL but is still fighting the remaining 20,000 claims. So far, (above the $3 billion dollars they paid the government), Glaxo has paid about $700,000 in claims to injured patients.

Now the court is getting impatient with Glaxo. The Judge recently gave Glaxo 75 days to settle up at least 85% of the remaining cases or they would be set for trial. It seems pretty obvious to all of us attorneys involved with Avandia, that after paying a $3 BILLION dollar fine and $700 MILLION in damages, Glaxo KNOWS Avandia was a bad drug and should settle the remaining cases.

We will see that Glaxo actually does, but my bet is their bank account is a lot deeper then the remaining cases. If they can pay the government and the first set of plaintiffs 3 billion 700 million dollars, they can settle up with the rest of the poor people they injured!

Before You Take That Pill

Think Talk Radio: Interview

Listen to this interview with me from today on thinktalkradio.com about a range of topics from consumers educating themselves about prescription medications, to military families, effects of deployment, and stress disorders. The program is hosted by Jerome Maultsby who works for a non-profit foundation that helps individuals with substance abuse problems. He is also [...]

Drug Injury Watch

Tom Lamb's Prescription Drug Side Effects News and Information

Merck Funded Study Says There Is No Blood Clot Risk With NuvaRing, While BMJ Medical Journal Article Reports A 90% Increased Risk
Perhaps These Conflicting Findings As Regards Serious NuvaRing Side Effects (PE, DVT, Stroke) Will Prompt FDA To Convene An Advisory Committee Meeting To Consider Safety Of This Vaginal Ring (Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com) Some conflicting and rather disturbing data about the safety of Merck's NuvaRing vaginal ring birth control method emerged in early May 2012 from two different medical studies. The first study -- for which the costs were reimbursed by Merck, the marketer of NuvaRing -- found no increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) development between the combination contraceptive vaginal ring (NuvaRing) and combined oral contraceptives (COCs, or birth control pills). The second study -- done by a set of independent researchers, i.e., no support from any organization for the subject study -- had quite a different finding: With an incidence of 7.8 confirmed events per 10 000 exposure years, the vaginal ring [NuvaRing] conferred a 90% higher risk of venous thrombosis than did combined oral contraceptives containing levonorgestrel, bringing the risk to the same level as that of combined oral contraceptives with third and fourth generation progestogens, and compatible with the Food and Drug Administration study [done by the FDA Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology in 2011,...

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EYEonFDA

RX for Pharma Industry Communications and Planning

Weekly Roundup 5-18-12
I kept thinking that this was going to be Memorial Day weekend and I was wrong each time, but it is Victoria Day weekend in Canada, so perhaps I was just channeling a 3-day weekend from my northern friends. Happy … Continue reading →

Pharmablogger

Your PharmaHost works in the Clinical Development area of a large pharmaceutical company who doesn't care for his industry's pursuit of increasing their consumption of the nation's wealth

Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry

A Closer Look

read...

Scientific Misconduct Blog

About all manner of corporate pharmaceutical scientific misconduct. If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention

A petition - academic bullying

I'm taking a break while sorting out a few other things. However this seems a worthwhile petition to 10 Downing Street.

The case referred to in the petition appears to be that of Dr. Howard Fredrics, formerly of Kingston University. The case …

Government Accountability Project

New Government Accountability Project Blog!
The Government Accountability Project is excited to announce the launch of our new website and blog. The new blog is located at www.whistleblower.com/blog. See you there!

Prescription Access Litigation Project

Pricing fraud lawsuit leads to big rewards for Massachusetts
Yesterday, the Massachusetts Attorney-General’s office announced a $24 million dollar settlement resulting from an investigation of pricing fraud in state programs by fourteen different drug makers. This settlement follows a ground-breaking lawsuits filed by members of the Prescription Access Litigation project at Community Catalyst in 2001, including Health Care For All, Mass Senior Action, MassPIRG, and eleven other [...]