Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman (partial rap sheet)

[Guest guest]

The pharmaceutical companies together comprise the 2nd -- 4th largest and most

successful crime family or syndicate on the planet. S

 

Below is a partial list of pharmaceutical corporate wrongdoing described in

Peter Rost's book:

 

In 2001: " TAP-Astra Zeneca Pay Over a Billion Dollar in

Fines " --re: criminal marketing of Lupron.

In 2002: Pfizer paid $49 million to settle state and federal

Medicaid fraud

charges involving Lipitor.

In 2002: Schering-Plough signed a FDA consent decree and paid a

$500 million

fine--the biggest in FDA history.

In 2004; Schering-Plough paid $345 million to resolve criminal

and civil

liabilities for illegal marketing of Calritin.

In 2004 Pfizer admitted criminal marketing of Neurontin, agreeing

to pay

$420 million.

In 2003: Bayer pled guilty to violating the federal Prescription

Drug

Marketing Act, paying $257 million including a criminal fine for

its

marketing of Cipro.

In 2004, Merck withdrew its lethal painkiller, Vioxx. Estimates

are that it

would cost the company $50 billion.

In 2004: The IRS served Merck with a " preliminary notice of

deficiency "

that could lead to $2.04 billion.

In 2003: GlaxoSmithKline shareholders questioned GSK CEO,

Jean-Pierre

Garnier, about his pay package to which he responded: " I am not

Mother

Teresa. "

GlaxoSmithKline also ran afoul of the IRS--it is facing a demand

for $7.8

billion in backdated taxes and interest.

In 2003, GSK signed a corporate integrity agreement and paid $88

million in

a civil fine for overcharging Medicaid for the antidepressant,

Paxil and

nasal-allergy spray, Flonase.

In 2004; New York State Attorney General slapped GSK with

fraudulent

marketing of Paxil--the company settled and posted its previously

concealed

pediatric clinical trial data.

In 2005 the Justice Department announced that GSK had paid " over

$150

million to resolve allegations of violations to the False Claims

Act through

fraudulent drug pricing and marketing. "

In 2004 Bristol-Myers Squibb was ordered by the Securities and

Exchange

Commission to pay $150 million to settle charges of inflating its

revenue by

$1.5 billion in 2000 and 2001.

A separate criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney General's

Office in

NJ resulted in the indictment of two executives for securities

fraud--the

company agreed to pay $300 million to shareholders.

In 2000: Wyeth signed an FDA Consent Decree and paid $30 million.

In 1997, Wyeth, after pulling Pondimin and Redux off the market

because of heart valve damage, the company was forced to set aside $21.1

billion to settle " fen-phen " liability cases.

In 2005: Serono Laboratories (Switzerland) agreed to pay $704

million to resolve criminal and civil charges in connection with the

marketing of Serostim, an AIDS drug. The company also pled guilty to

marketing

conspiracy.

In 2005: Eli Lilly pled guilty and paid $36 million for its

illegal

marketing of Evista for off-label uses.

 

For the other corrupt practices by this industry, the harm

suffered by human

beings, tune in to tonight Public Broadcasting System (PBS).

The first report in a new series-- AIR: America's Investigative

Reports-- " A

Bitter Pill, " airs Friday, Sept. 8.

 

 

 

 

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)

Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability

http://www.ahrp.org

 

FYI

The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman by Dr. Peter Rost,

published by Soft Skull Press has just been released.

 

This is a blow by blow description of Dr. Rost's experience as an

insider--indeed a high-level pharmaceutical executive turned whistleblower.

Dr. Rost first blew the whistle on Wyeth's global tax evasion scheme in which

Wyeth made payments to its foreign employees to escape taxes. He then

blew the whistle on Pharmacia's illegal, off-label, marketing of Genotropin, a

human growth hormone. When Pharmacia was swallowed up by Pfizer, hissituation

dramatically worsened--except for his savvy inroads with the media and

politicians. Dr. Rost focused mainly on the lie promoted by Big Pharmaabout the

invented danger of reimportation of prescription drugs.

 

Although most of the book describes one man's struggle against corporate hard

ball tactics and intimidation--despite laws protecting whistleblowers--his

chapter, How Corrupt Is the Drug Industry? provides the milieu in which this

industry operates. Giant pharmaceutical corporations that once were held in high

esteem, have earned criminal wrap sheets--much like mobsters, not life-savers:

 

 

" Every prescription medicine you take is tested on humans before it's

approved for sale and use by the Food and Drug Administration.

But if you assumed those tests are always done smartly, safely and ethically

under the

watchful eye of expert regulators, you would be very, very wrong. (many " foster

kids " and prisoners involved)

 

Perhaps even dead wrong. "

 

Check your local PBS station for date and time. The half hour report is

riveting!

 

 

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav

212-595-8974

veracare

 

 

 

 

Messenger with Voice. Make PC-to-Phone Calls to the US (and 30+

countries) for 2¢/min or less.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Yep. I was prescribed Neurontin (meds for epilopsy) for pain for

fibromyalgia. I took it for 10 months and decided I needed to get

off of it. (I was taking much more than was prescribed and even

asked my husband to take the bottle, hide it from me and only give

them to me when I was supposed to take them) First time, cold

turkey and it was just ugly with mood swings and temper tantrums.

Second time, I had my doc lower my dosage and I had withdrawls like

coming off of heroin. Third time, even a lower dosage. I spent a

month with uncontrolable shakes, vomiting and crapping myself

laying on the bathroom floor. I moved on to another doc who

prescribed everything from anti-depressents, hydrocodone, sleeping

pills, you name it. I almost died from those meds. They ate up my

digestive system, everything from my throat to my booty hole. My

hair was falling out and I couldn't stop throwing up. Was using a

walker and wheelchair to get around, and those were the days when I

could get out of bed. My internet friends all got together and

raised enough money to fly me to a friend of mine in Seattle who is

a homeopath. Two weeks of liquid vits, food..three weeks of detox

(essential oil hot baths, DE, etc), then retraining my body to " Eat

Right for my Blood Type, " several suppliments, herbs and teas and I

am doing pretty darn good! I cannot believe how damaging western

meds are! I'm trying to join several groups and tell my story.

Hopefully, I can help save some lives and keep them from going what

I had to go through. ~Rocky

 

Rachelle " Rocky " Ward

9630 South Big Thunder

Vail, Arizona 85641

520-647-0194 Home

520-603-6874 Cell