Washington Post article exposes drug companies' huge profits and lobbying expenses marketing harmful drugs approved by FDA

[Bill Godshall]

Lead (and lengthy) article in today's Washington Post Business section.

[SIZE=+0]Anemia drug made billions, but at what cost? [/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...at-what-cost/2012/07/19/gJQAX5yqwW_print.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...12/07/19/gJQAX5yqwW_story.html?wpisrc=al_excl
[/SIZE]

Some excerpts

For years, a trio of anemia drugs known as Epogen, Procrit and Aranesp ranked among the best-selling prescription drugs in the United States, generating more than $8 billion a year for two companies, Amgen and Johnson & Johnson.

The trouble, as a growing body of research has shown, is that for about two decades, the benefits of the drug — including “life satisfaction and happiness” according to the FDA-approved label — were wildly overstated, and potentially lethal side effects, such as cancer and strokes, were overlooked.

"It was just so easy to do — you put this stuff in the patient’s arm, and you made thousands of dollars,” said Charles Bennett, endowed chair at the Medication Safety and Efficacy Center of Economic Excellence at the University of South Carolina and one of the critics of the use of the drug in cancer patients. “An oncologist could make anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000 a year from this alone. And all the while they were told that it was good for the patient.”

By 1994, the drug’s label, approved by the FDA, advertised a range of benefits: “statistically significant improvements for . . . health, sex life, well-being, psychological effect, life satisfaction, and happiness.”

With FDA approval, Johnson & Johnson halted the study, never finding evidence of clear dangers. But as Medicare researchers would later remark, the patients taking the drugs appeared more likely to die than those taking the placebo.

Amgen, which already had a sizable in-house lobbying effort, turned to powerful outside help. It spent $2.4 million on lobbyists that year, according to OpenSecrets.org. Among the Amgen representatives were Haley Barbour, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, and C. Boyden Gray, formerly White House counsel to George H.W. Bush.

Amgen lobbying expenditures and political efforts jumped that year. The company ranked as the largest contributor to the campaign of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), which got $42,050.

Amid the campaign, Reps. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) and Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) drafted a letter to Medicare, signed by a majority in both houses, warning that the proposed Medicare limits on the drugs could have a “broad range of unintended health consequences.”

 

[Petrodus]

I'm sure the truth being published just thrills BP and the FDA

 

[VapApe]

Now we know why the FDA hunts down whistle blowers.

 

[Petrodus]

Wouldn't it be nice if the FDA couldn't bi-pass congress by enacting
and enforcing its own laws. Actually, the FDA has the power of all
3 branches of the government and the officials are appointed and
not elected so we can't vote them out of office. Reminds me somewhat
of a dictatorship.

The Founding Fathers predicted that if ever those constitutional powers
were vested in single hands that would be the death of liberty and
the birth of tyranny.

 

[Bill Godshall]

The following article in Sunday's NY Times (and subsequent followup articles this week) highlights a campaign by FDA to spy on its own scientists who expressed concerns about other drug approvals by agency.

Vast FDA Effort Tracked E-Mails of Its Scientists
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/u...d-to-outside-critics.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
FDA Monitors Scientists' Critical Emails : NPR

FDA surveillance operation draws criticism from lawmakers
FDA surveillance operation draws criticism from lawmakers | Reuters

Investigation Sought of Extensive FDA Surveillance
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/us/politics/inquiry-sought-of-extensive-fda-surveillance.html?_r=1


Also, today's Wall Street Journal ran an article stating that Johnson and Johnson and DOJ attorneys have reached an agreement to fine the drug company $2.2 Billion over the company's illegal marketing of an antipsychotic drug Risperdal.

 

[Petrodus]

It's nice to see "What goes around comes around"
applies to BP and the FDA

 

[Bill Godshall]

And last week.

GlaxoSmithKline to Plead Guilty and Pay $3 Billion to Resolve Fraud Allegations and Failure to Report Safety Data
Largest Health Care Fraud Settlement in U.S. History, includes activities on Wellbutrin, but not ineffective NRT products USDOJ: GlaxoSmithKline to Plead Guilty and Pay $3 Billion to Resolve Fraud Allegations and Failure to Report Safety Data
GlaxoSmithKline concludes previously announced agreement in principle to resolve multiple investigations with US Government and numerous states
Drug giant Glaxo pleads guilty, fined $3B for drug marketing

 

[VapApe]

The FDA needs grab by the ankles and shaken hard to see what else falls out.

The FDA was dam quick to jump on E- cig companies for making what it claimed to be false health claims.
And all the wile they were looking the other way for BP.

 

[DC2]

So let me see if I have this straight...

Big tobacco gets caught, and the hammer drops on them.
The are forever labeled as evil, and everybody is taught to hate them.

Big Pharma does the same thing, and nobody blinks an eye.

Where are all the people that were (and continue) yelling and screaming about the evils of Big tobacco?
Why aren't they making a big stink about the evils of Big Pharma?

Oh, yeah, they are on the payroll of Big Pharma.

 

[DC2]

I have a question for you Bill, or anyone else who might have some insight...

Why is it that the following media seem to be willing to expose Big Pharma?
--Washington Post
--New York Times
--Forbes magazine

Because there is no doubt the above have shown a willingness to expose these issues.

 

[Petrodus]

So let me see if I have this straight...

Big tobacco gets caught, and the hammer drops on them.
The are forever labeled as evil, and everybody is taught to hate them.

Big Pharma does the same thing, and nobody blinks an eye.

Where are all the people that were (and continue) yelling and screaming about the evils of Big Tobacco?
Why aren't they making a big stink about the evils of Big Pharma?

Oh, yeah, they are on the payroll of Big Pharma.

AND ... most are dependent on one or more of BP's drugs

 

[Myk]

Somebody needs to dive into why the doctors go along with it.

They gave my great niece's bio-mother Paxil when she was pregnant. OK, she was crazy, but she was also pregnant.
My sister had an ovarian cyst removed, except they didn't remove it. She complained about pain. They put her on Paxil.
I go in for debilitating panic and agoraphobia. They jerk me around for months trying expensive drugs. $10 Xanax (that they gave me to try and stick it out with one of those bad drugs) worked. Now that I know $10 Xanax works and lasts a year they still try to push me to $100-$200 a month SSRIs that have to be taken constantly.
One doctor even suggested I needed to take more stronger ones to get them to work.

Their excuse for the SSRIs over Xanax is monkeys want to take Xanax therefore it's addictive. Ignore the fact that if you quit SSRIs cold turkey you're in as much danger as quitting Xanax the same way. Also ignore the fact that people who should be taking benzos (anxiety and seizures) show that they don't have a problem with getting addicted.
No, it's that monkeys want one but not that other that qualifies something as addictive and we all know "addictive" is bad.

The results of coming off SSRIs, even cutting back under medical care is panic, exactly what they OK'ed them to be used for. Just stay on them forever.

 

[VapApe]

I have a question for you Bill, or anyone else who might have some insight...

Why is it that the following media seem to be willing to expose Big Pharma?
--Washington Post
--New York Times
--Forbes magazine

Because there is no doubt the above have shown a willingness to expose these issues.

I am hoping its do to some echo of journalistic standers still left in the US.

 

[NorthOfAtlanta]

I have a question for you Bill, or anyone else who might have some insight...

Why is it that the following media seem to be willing to expose Big Pharma?
--Washington Post
--New York Times
--Forbes magazine

Because there is no doubt the above have shown a willingness to expose these issues.

Possibly because they are still real news organizations and not ratings and politically driven entertainment types.

 

[Bill Godshall]

DC2 inquired

Why is it that the following media seem to be willing to expose Big Pharma?
--Washington Post
--New York Times
--Forbes magazine

Because its the news media's job to expose important news.

 

[Petrodus]

Because its the news media's job to expose important news.

If its the job of the media to expose important news
like the truth about BP and the FDA ... Then many
aren't doing their job.

A dog is found and returned to its owner after being
lost for 2 years will make the evening news. However,
the painful truth about BP and the FDA is no news?

Lets not mention that e-cigarettes save millions
of lives is well known but apparently science hasn't
yet proven the obvious.

EDIT: Yea, I know "THEY" won't report this because
"you know who" wouldn't approve. I was just rambling...Yet again

 

[Myk]

If its the job of the media to expose important news
like the truth about BP and the FDA ... Then many
aren't doing their job.

A dog is found and returned to its owner after being
lost for 2 years will make the evening news. However,
the painful truth about BP and the FDA is no news?

Lets not mention that e-cigarettes save millions
of lives is well known but apparently science hasn't
yet proven the obvious.

EDIT: Yea, I know "THEY" won't report this because
"you know who" wouldn't approve. I was just rambling...Yet again

How many times did you hear what the WHO second hand smoke study actually said? How often did you hear about what the federal judge said about the EPA second hand smoke study?

 

[bruiser]

Remember oxycontin? The manufacturer lied about it's addictiveness. Claimed it wasn't any more addictive than other drugs in it's class. Turned out it was many times more addictive, and a lot of people got hooked that might not have had they known the truth, and had their doctors known the truth. The manufacturer only had to pay a relatively small fine.

 

[Petrodus]

Fines and payout on lawsuits are anticipated by BP and part of their
business plan when putting their poisons on the market. They know
many of them harm or kill ... but only kill with in acceptable numbers.

Would be nice if the FDA felt obliged to live up to their mandate...
but truth really is stranger than fiction.

 

[Myk]

Would be nice if the FDA felt obliged to live up to their mandate...
but truth really is stranger than fiction.

Given the corporate sponsorship of our branches of government (I'm completely partisan making that statement) I'm not at all surprised a government administrative branch designed to watch over some corporations is in cahoots with them.