Eli Lilly - Guilty!

Eli Lilly and Company Agrees to Pay $1.415 Billion to Resolve Allegations
of Off-label Promotion of Zyprexa
$515 Million Criminal Fine Is Largest Individual Corporate Criminal Fine in History; Civil
Settlement up to $800 Million
American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Company today agreed to plead guilty and pay $1.415 billion for
promoting its drug Zyprexa for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of
Justice announced today. This resolution includes a criminal fine of $515 million, the largest ever in a health care
case, and the largest criminal fine for an individual corporation ever imposed in a United States criminal
prosecution of any kind. Eli Lilly will also pay up to $800 million in a civil settlement with the federal government
and the states.
Eli Lilly agreed to enter a global resolution with the United States to resolve criminal and civil allegations that
it promoted its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa for uses not approved by the FDA, the Department said. Such
unapproved uses are also known as "off-label" uses because they are not included in the drug’s FDA approved
product label.
Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division Gregory G. Katsas and acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern
District of Pennsylvania Laurie Magid today announced the filing of a criminal information against Eli Lilly for
promoting Zyprexa for uses not approved by the FDA. Eli Lilly, headquartered in Indianapolis, is charged in the
information with promoting Zyprexa for such off-label or unapproved uses as treatment for dementia, including
Alzheimer’s dementia, in elderly people.
The company has signed a plea agreement admitting its guilt to a misdemeanor criminal charge. Eli Lilly also
signed a civil settlement to resolve civil claims that by marketing Zyprexa for unapproved uses, it caused false
claims for payment to be submitted to federal insurance programs such as Medicaid, TRICARE and the Federal
Employee Health Benefits Program, none of which provided coverage for such off-label uses.
Department of Justice document is here.

A deep bow of respect to investigative journalist Philip Dawdy, without whose dedication and personal sacrifices this result might never have been reached. Visit him at Furious Seasons.

Pharmer's Market: Bill Maher Talks About Big Pharma

Lancet, AHRP: Who Beguiled Doctors?

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION Promoting Openness, Full
Disclosure, and Accountability http://www.ahrp.org and
http://ahrp.blogspot.com
FYI
"The current issue of The Lancet, includes a meta-analysis comparing
the efficacy of old and new neuroleptics--a.k.a. first generation
antipsychotics and 'atypical' second generation antipsychotics. The
findings corroborate the fact that the new drugs are no better than
the old antipsychotics.
See:
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)617...
A Commentary in the same issue, "The Spurious Advance of Antipsychotic
Drug Therapy," by Dr. Peter Tyrer, professor of community psychiatry,
Imperial College, London, and Tim Kendal, MD, co-director of the
Royal College of Psychiatrists' national collaborating centre for
mental health, leads one to conclude that doctors have been 'conned'
by drug manufacturers:
"The new generation of drugs, known as atypicals, were heralded as
safer and more effective than the earlier antipsychotics, and for
the past 20 years doctors have been bbeguiledb into thinking they
were superior."
'The spurious invention of the atypicals can now be regarded as
invention only, cleverly manipulated by the drug industry for
marketing purposes and only now being exposed.' (Source: Lancet,
2009; 373: 4-5; 31-41).
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)617...
We would beg to disagree: given the active (duplicitous) role of
prominent academic psychiatrists, as well the major professional
associations in psychiatrybthe American Psychiatric Association,
the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the American Academy
of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, et al in promoting the second
generation antipsychotics, it is unfair to lay blame entirely on
the pharmaceutical industry...."
Continue reading here.

Lift Kids Out of Poverty, Protect Their Brains

Growing up in poverty can physically harm a child's brain development, suggests a new study co-conducted by a University of British Columbia researcher.

Add that to a growing stack of findings that child advocates are using to argue the B.C. government needs to do more to tackle child poverty in a province that trails the rest of Canada in that category.

UBC pediatrician Tom Boyce worked with colleagues at the University of California and Stanford to measure how differences in a child's family socioeconomic status determine differences in neurological functioning in the pre-frontal cortex -- the part of the brain associated with executive functions and reasoning.

Their resulting study, to be published in MIT's Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, found that poorer children's pre-frontal cortexes were more likely to exhibit signs of damage or "altered" functioning identified with shortened attention spans and other learning problems.

Child and youth advocates say the new research is consistent with other studies finding that poverty sickens kids and impairs their development.

A study recently released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information reveals that low income Canadians are at elevated risk for mental health hospitalization, diabetes and childhood asthma.

Article here.

BREAKDOWN: Seven-part series in the Globe&Mail

Interesting series, here.
But we at Pharmaceuticals Anonymous think they've got it wrong: mental illness can be prevented and corrected with nutrition. Why bemoan stigma and the high costs of mental health treatment ($1,000,000+ over the lifetime of a
person diagnosed with "schizophrenia") when the truth is that the individual may have a vitamin deficiency, an infection or an allergy?
Why don't the "mentally ill" receive proper
physical work-ups before the Dx/Rx is written? We wonder - could it have something to do with jobs?

Cancer Is A Fungus

You can stop cancer in its tracks simply by changing your body's pH. To do that, all you may need is a gentle, freely available ingredient: Baking soda or Bicarbonate soda. Isn't that wonderful?
Details here.
To learn more, please go to Dr. Simoncici's site.
Also see this article.
Listen to Dr. Simoncici on video here:

Hat tip and thanks for the suggestion to Mr. I.A.

Ignored: The mentally ill killed by drugs that are meant to help them

Article here