Pleading Ignorant on Drug Marketing

January 13th, 2010. By Kristine B

Last week, Pleading Ignorance briefly looked at what “off-label” means when talking about drugs. This week, I thought I’d take a slightly more in-depth look at drug marketing—starting with how pharmaceutical companies market drugs to doctors. You sort of already know how drugs are marketed to consumers (i.e., YOU) because you see the ads. But pharmaceutical marketing to physicians is a little less transparent. So let’s talk about it.

Drug companies have two target audiences that they market their drugs to: the doctors, which makes sense because the doctors are the ones who write the prescriptions; and you, the consumer. That’s why, more and more frequently, you see ads on tv telling you to talk to your doctor about a certain drug. How often do you watch tv and see some sort of ad that starts off “Do you feel down?” or “Are you in pain?” Drug companies know that if you said “yes” to those questions you might just go in to your doctor and ask about the drugs they’re advertising. But it’s not so easy to do that with the doctors.

Marketing to doctors is definitely different from marketing to consumers (I can’t imagine too many doctors would respond to a tv ad that says, “Does your patient feel down?”). Marketing to doctors is more about scientific information. That’s all the somewhat boring stuff—found on the monograph for the drug—that lists things like “Indications” or “Adverse Events” or “Co-morbitidy,” stuff that the scientists understand but we may not. There are Read the rest of this entry »

H1N1 Vaccine-Gate

January 13th, 2010. By janem

“It’s one of the greatest medical scandals of the century” said Wolfgang Wodarg, head of health at the Council of Europe, and it’s likely the costliest.  In France alone, health officials spent 1.25 billion dollars on 94 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, but only 5 million has been used. Now, like other countries such as the UK and Germany, it is trying to sell off the supply. But the epidemic has already spiked so who wants to buy?

What I find most incredulous is how governments have been so freakin’ gullible! How could they get sucked in by big pharma companies such as Glaxo Smith Kline, Sanofi and Baxter—with their obvious financial interests at stake? Even Obama got sucked in. In October 2009, our president called H1N1 a national emergency and said there is  “rapid increase in illness from H1N1…the pandemic continues to evolve and rise rapidly…” But the numbers didn’t add up—you don’t call it a pandemic without doing some research.

These drug companies told everyone initially that two vaccines were needed, but later it was discovered that one shot is enough. So they doubled their money. And just to be on the safe side, that clever Glaxo Smith Kline sold governments a “no return” policy.

Health officials were led to believe that thousands upon thousands of people would die from H1N1 and in total, $20 billion was spent on the vaccine. But so far just 13,000 worldwide have died from the virus—definitely not the killer flu predicted. Besides, 250,000 people die of seasonal flu each year and Wodarg emphasizes this fact: “It’s [H1N1] just a normal kind of flu,” he said. “It does not cause a tenth of deaths caused by the classic seasonal flu.”

Some people (and not just conspiracy theorists) believe the swine flu outbreak was a ‘false pandemic’ driven by drug companies that stood to make billions of dollars from a worldwide scam. Wodarg is one of them, and he is backed by Read the rest of this entry »

You can sue Tobacco, but it may cost you

January 13th, 2010. By AbiK

If you’ve been keeping up with the news on smoking lawsuits, you’ll know that Florida is the hotbed for action right now. Ever since the Florida Supreme Court threw out a $145 billion judgement against Philip Morris et al in 2006, the road has been opened up for smokers to file individual lawsuits against the tobacco company.

And so they have. But there’s a twist here.

Just yesterday, we learned that ex-smoker Jerome Cohen dropped his lawsuit against Philip Morris. Any time someone—a former smoker—drops their lawsuit against a tobacco company you begin to wonder why. Well, in this instance, Cohen’s lawyer, Philip Gerson, was quoted in the Associated Press as saying that Cohen’s health was the issue—he has lung cancer.

But other reports bring up another little-known—or little publicized—issue: in Florida, if a plaintiff refuses a settlement offer, continues on with their case and loses—or, according to smokersinfo.net, wins a judgement of at least 25 percent less than the defendant’s original offer, the defendant may seek attorney fees and costs from the plaintiff.

And that can be mucho dinero. Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris, said in a statement earlier in the week that two other Florida smokers recently had to cough up $100,000 and $30,000 respectively—to Philip Morris—upon losing their cases.

Hard to imagine, but true. And that may well give pause to some indivduals who might otherwise file a lawsuit against Philip Morris.

I tend to look at the consequences of smoking as a mixed responsibility thing—that is, if you started smoking prior to Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, I’m defending Paris Hilton

January 13th, 2010. By AbiK

I’ll say it again: Yes, I’m defending Paris Hilton.

Paris has been slapped with an infringement lawsuit over her Paris Hilton shoes’ insole cushion. They’re heart-shaped. And wouldn’t you know, Gwyneth Shoes has very similar insoles—so similar, in fact, that they claim Paris stole the idea!

Now, admittedly, I don’t have the inside scoop on where and how Paris’ biz team gets their ideas—though as with every celebrity product launch we continue to hear how “closely involved” or “hands on” Paris is in the “complete” design-manufacture-marketing process for her shoes. Yeah. Ok.

But, here’s where I’m coming from. First, you can buy heart-shaped insoles (see pic) from Foot Petals. Secondly, have you seen Gwyneth’s lineup of shoes? No? If you’ve seen Paris’ shoes, Jessica Simpson’s shoes, Steve Madden, Chinese Laundry, and even Payless, you’ve basically seen Gwyneth’s lineup. Note also, you won’t find Gwyneth on zappos.com, shoes.com or piperlime.com either.

So here’s my bet: Gwyneth saw an opportunity and took it. Think about it, I’d never write about or stop by Gwyneth shoes’ website if it hadn’t been for Paris Hilton. So unless something comes out in the wash here, I’m saying drop it. And Gwyneth can shoot Paris a thank-you email for the bump in their traffic number for January 2010 vs. prior month…year…all-time history…

I don’t find myself in Paris’ court too often, but on this one, yes, I’m defending Paris Hilton.

Asbestos News Now: 1.12.10

January 12th, 2010. By LucyC

A roundup of recent asbestos-related news and information that you should be aware of.

Asbestos Lawsuits

Madison County, IL: Between December 14 and 18, 2009, a total of 28 new asbestos lawsuits were filed.  In one such suit, Donald and Sharon Floyd of Missouri allege that Donald Floyd developed lung cancer after his work as a welder at North County Technical High School from 1969 until 1971, and at numberous other jobs where he worked as a welder  between 1970 and 2006. Another suit has been brought by Althea Bussert of Arizona, who claims her recently deceased husband, James Bussert, developed mesothelioma after his work as a reliability engineer, teacher, instructor and clerk at various locations throughout Arizona and California from 1959 until 2009. (St. Clair Record)

Asbestos Hot Spots

Staten Is, NY: The New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs (DMNA) closed parts of the New York State Armory on Manor Road in Staten Island on Monday, January 4th following the discovery of asbestos contamination in some armory offices and work spaces. Full time staff and drilling units assigned to the armory have been shifted to other New York City armories to perform their routine duties and training.

Soldiers and other military staff assigned to the armory have completed Department of Defense medical evaluation forms which will be kept in their military medical files as a baseline in case they develop any kind of medical condition which could be related to asbestos exposure in the future. (readmedia.com)

Victoria, BC: The federal of Canada and the British Columbia provincial government have given $42.5 million for asbestos remediation and new construction involving six buildings on the campus of the University of Victoria. The buildings were constructed between 1962 and 1978. The renovation work is scheduled to be complete by Spring 2011. (Victoria Times Colonist)