Top doc busted for being on Big Pharma payroll
Can you remember the time when doctors were put on a pedestal by society, praised as paragons of ethics thanks to the famous Hippocratic oath? Those days are but a distant memory for me. More and more, that oath is being thrown out the window, and drug company payola is taking its place.
These days, docs who take drug company bribes are a dime a dozen. Every once in a while, though, a case is so over the top that I can’t resist telling you about it.
The latest case of a doctor’s greed getting the better of him is that of psychiatrist Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff of Emory University. Apparently, he racked up a staggering $2.8 million in “consulting fees” from the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, in a flagrant violation of federal research rules. Not surprisingly, he “forgot” to report as much as $1.2 million of that money to Emory.
This stunning example of academic conflict of interest is merely the latest case that’s been unearthed by Republican Sen. Charles E. Grassley, and a congressional inquiry that’s looked into the relationships of 20 doctors and research institutions. “The current system for tracking financial relationships isn’t working,” Sen. Grassley says.
No kidding. But money is now virtually everywhere in the healthcare industry. Big Pharma is tripping over it, and they’re not shy about spreading it around.
Nemeroff was the lead investigator for a $3.9 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health for which Glaxo had provided the drugs. Nemeroff had been told by Emory not to accept any payments from drug companies in excess of $10,000 for the duration of the grant. In fact, Nemeroff had received nearly $1 million, while claiming to Emory that he’d only received $35,000.
I can’t begin to explain what an incredibly negative impact this has on the entire healthcare industry. And it’s difficult to believe that a doctor of such noted repute would willingly flush everything he’d worked for down the toilet for a million bucks. As if we weren’t suspicious of Big Pharma already, Nemeroff’s actions once again give us reason to question the credibility of ALL pharmaceutical companies and the so-called research that supports their drugs.
In the wake of this incident, the National Institute of Health has decided to postpone a scheduled $9.3 million grant to Emory. And I wouldn’t bother to venture a guess as to the next time Emory can successfully lobby for a major research grant.
Sen. Grassley’s studies could result in a major overhaul of the academic medical system. Remember, his investigation looked into 20 separate drug companies. Obviously, the individual universities seem to be unwilling or unable to police any possible conflicts in interest by their staff. Maybe they can’t see them behind their giant stacks of Big Pharma cash
Big Pharma company pays out big bucks for fraudulent marketing
It was a bad week for marketing departments throughout the Big Pharma world. At every turn, it seemed another drug maker was being exposed for the usual no-no’s. This time, the Eli Lilly Company ended up biting the bullet and agreeing to a $62 million pay-out to 33 states for marketing its schizophrenia and bipolar disorder drug Zyprexa to patients who don’t have that disease.
Clearly, it must’ve worked: Zyprexa is Eli Lilly’s top-selling drug. Too bad Zyprexa, a heavy-duty brain tranquilizer, is only approved to be marketed for, you know, the disorders the FDA has approved it to treat.
This is the largest state consumer protection settlement a Big Pharma company has paid since Merck’s Vioxx disaster.
Once again, this was a case of a Big Pharma company hoisted with the petard of its own internal documents corporate emails. The company was expanding the marketing of the drug beyond its approved use to include patients with mild bipolar disorder and even dementia; this is a blatant (and, as it turns out, costly) violation of federal law.
Thankfully, the weasels were caught. And here’s even better news: federal prosecutors are pressing a much more serious civil and criminal investigation against Lilly relating to the Zyprexa issue which is expected to result in more than $1 billion (yup, billion) in fines and damages to the states and the federal government.
I’m guessing there won’t be any bonuses for the Lilly marketing department this year.
