Protect Consumer Justice » pharmaceutical companies

Conflicts of interest reported for FDA panel that signed off on Yaz birth control drug

jg — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:32:48 +0000

Washington Monthly blog: Jeanne Lenzer and Keith Epstein report some members of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration committee of medical experts that looked into the potential dangers of the Bayer birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin had potential conflicts of interest. “[A]n investigation by the Washington Monthly and the British medical journal BMJ has found that at least four members of the committee have either done work for the drugs’ manufacturers or licensees or received research funding from them,” they wrote. “The FDA made none of those financial ties public.”

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Yaz contraceptive continues to generate lawsuits

jg — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:05:07 +0000

Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger: The mother of an 18-year-girl who died while taking the birth control pill Yaz, sold by Bayer Healthcare, is among thousands who are “alleging Bayer did not provide adequate warnings about the health risks associated with Yaz, and they are blaming the drug for causing blood clots, heart attacks, strokes and, in some cases, sudden deaths,” according to Susan Todd. A Bayer spokeswoman told Todd, “The lawsuits filed by plaintiffs focus on side effects that are warned about in the labeling for Yaz and Yasmin.”

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Drugmaker agrees to pay more than $1 billion in Paxil settlements

jg — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:06:59 +0000

Bloomberg BusinessWeek: “GlaxoSmithKline Plc has agreed to pay more than $1 billion to resolve more than 800 cases alleging its Paxil antidepressant caused birth defects in some users’ children,” according to a Bloomberg report. That brings the total Glaxo has agreed to pay to settle Paxil-related suits to more than $2 billion.

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A (small) victory for medical patients, and ethics

scott — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 17:20:01 +0000

The University of Michigan Medical School has decided that it will no longer accept cash from drug companies to underwrite courses designed to keep doctors’ medical licenses current — a small but welcome step in trying to reduce the influence of Big Pharma over how doctors treat patients.

It would seem to be a no-brainer to keep some distance between the folks who profit from selling drugs and training the doctors in a position to prescribe those drugs, but that’s the way the post-doctoral education system works, the New York Times reports today.

Millions of dollars are involved, which naturally has led to some heated gnashing of teeth over whether doctors sitting through pharmaceutical-financed courses would tend to look kindly on the drug companies’ wares when it comes time to writing prescriptions. From the article:

But Dr. Michael Steinman, an associate professor of medicine at the San Francisco V.A. Medical Center who has studied the use of medical education as a marketing strategy, said that companies face an inherent conflict of interest. “The course providers have a subtle and probably unconscious incentive to put on courses that are favorable to industry because they know where their bread is buttered,” he said.

[...]

Proponents of industry support for such courses point to a few studies in which the majority of doctors who attended the programs reported that they perceived the events to be free of commercial bias.

But Dr. Steinman, who conducted one of the studies, said that related research in social science demonstrates that people who receive gifts often feel obliged to return the favor. “Industry wouldn’t be paying billions of dollars to do this stuff if it didn’t benefit them,” he said.

No kidding. Maybe the medical school leaders need a remedial course in ethics, and the corrupting influence of money.

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Maker of Paxil agrees to settle suits brought over birth defects

jg — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:52:53 +0000

The Legal Intelligencer: GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Paxil, “has agreed to settle almost 200 cases in which plaintiffs allege the use of the antidepressant caused birth defects,” reports Amaris Elliott-Engel. In the only case in Philadelphia’s mass tort Paxil program that has gone to trial, a jury awarded the plaintiff $2.5 million.

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Appeal of Prempro verdict denied by U.S. Supreme Court

jg — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:11:31 +0000

Bloomberg BusinessWeek: An Arkansas jury’s $2.7 million award to a woman who claimed her use of the menopause symptom relief drug Prempro led her to develop breast cancer was allowed to stand when the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear an appeal by the drug’s maker, Pfizer. Greg Stohr and Jef Feeley write plaintiff Donna Scroggin contended “company executives ignored studies raising questions about the link between hormone-replacement drugs and breast cancer to pump up sales of their drugs.”

Tort reform has given us repealed regulations, gutted safety precautions, special immunities and privileges for unaccountable multinational corporations and get-out-of-jail-free legal loopholes for big corporate CEOs.

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California’s Tort Wars: Election Day by the numbers

eric — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:42:43 +0000

The battle between corporations and consumer attorneys over the fate of the civil justice system raged into the spring election primary season with a few key showdown legislative races – and a couple big corporate-backed propositions.

In the end, front groups for the oil, insurance, health care and pharmaceutical industries that want to see consumers and attorneys take it below the belt instead got walloped in the polls. And they spent a whole heap of money along the way.

Among the biggest losers? The Civil Justice Assn. of California and its board of corporate giants that includes BP, AIG, the California Building Industry Assn., Dow Chemical, Pfizer, State Farm Insurance and lots more.

Here’s a look at the numbers.

$60 million

(That’s how much Mercury Insurance and PG&E spent while failing to pass Propositions 16 and 17).

$2.5 million

(What anti-tort groups CJAC and Californians Allied for Patient Protection poured into showdown races).

684

(The vote lead progressive Democrat Mary Salas holds over corporation-backed candidate Juan Vargas, an insurance executive, in the 40^th Senate District primary).

(The number of races targeted by the Consumer Attorneys of California).

(The number of targeted races in which candidates supported by the Consumer Attorneys of California either won or hold the lead).

(The number of targeted races won by candidates supported by CJAC and CAPP).

The outcome of this election makes it clear that voters are getting canny about corporate-backed candidates and causes. In an era of BP oil spills and runaway Toyotas, the public has grown wise to the reality that corporate candidates are bent on undercutting the civil justice system to help boost the profits reaped by corporations and their billionaire leaders. The common man and woman can make a difference simply by stepping into the voting booth and making wise choices.

–Eric Bailey

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