Posts Tagged ‘ Eli Lilly ’

Is Your Doctor Getting Cash from Big Pharma? Find Out

October 20th, 2010. By AbiK

It’s been a good year for Dr. Firhaad Ismail. Indeed! Financially speaking, that is. See, according to the info over at ProPublica, in their Dollars for Docs report, Dr. Ismail took in no less than $303,558 from big pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline (GSK…the folks who brought you Avandia and Paxil), Eli LIlly, and Merck.

Now, Dr. Ismail is just one of 384 doctors nationwide who’ve received payment from big pharma. Ismail is based in Vegas (clearly, if ProPublica’s involved, what goes on in Vegas is not staying in Vegas) and his specialty is Endocrinology and Metabolism. And he appears to do a fair amount of consulting on the topic. On big pharma’s dime.

Dr. Ismail may be the best damn doctor there is in his specialty. I don’t know. But what I do know is that the ProPublica report indicates that Dr. Ismail received a total of $209,400 from GSK alone. Recall what area of practice Dr. Ismail is in…Endocrinology. What does Endocrinology deal with? Well, diabetes for one. And last I checked, Avandia is a type 2 diabetes drug made by GSK.

I’m just putting on the table what’s already out there. I’m not saying there’s any unsavory relationship here…but I the jaded skeptic in me does raise a little eyebrow…

Needless to say, I’ve been checking out my own doctors over at ProPublica.com. You can, too. Just hop over to Dollars for Docs and do a search for your doctor’s name, by state. You can also find a full list there of all the doctors nationwide.

Let us know what you find…and if you think doctors receiving funds from big pharma presents a conflict of interest.

Tags: Dollars for Docs, Dr. Firhaad Ismail, Eli Lilly, GSK, Merck, ProPublica
Posted in Drugs/Medical | 1 Comment »

Zyprexa – Making Lemonade out of Lemons

February 1st, 2010. By LucyC

You may recall a study that hit the news last October, published in JAMA, on the use of four new generation antipsychotics—Zyprexa, Risperdal, Abilify and Seroquel—used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder in adults and adolescents. Long story short—it was not a good news story for the kids on these drugs, and most especially kids on Zyprexa.

Why not? Weight gain, increases in triglyceride levels and associated risks for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. 

The average weight gain over the 12 week study period was the highest for Zyprexa—17 pounds. You’d be hard pressed to gain that kind of weight sport-eating your way through the holidays… 

Suffice to say an editorial in JAMA called the study results “timely and sobering,” suggesting that the new generation of antipsychotics are not all they’re cracked up to be. “These results challenge the widespread use of atypical antipsychotic medications in youth,” University of Washington, Seattle child psychiatrists Christopher K. Varley and Jon McClellan wrote. 

Well, maybe not. On January 29^th, nearly three months after the study was published, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning to doctors regarding prescribing information for Zyprexa, but it’s not exactly strong…here’s part of the FDA Safety warning: 

“Section 1, Indications and Usage: When deciding among the alternative treatments available for adolescents, Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Eli Lilly, Zyprexa
Posted in Drugs/Medical | 2 Comments »

7 Game-Changing Settlements of 2009

December 15th, 2009. By Kristine B

We’re in the countdown to year-end and looking over some of the more impactful settlements LawyersAndSettlements.com has covered over the past year. When we’re talking impactful, everyone around here has an opinion—so we had to throw in some criteria. To get the nod for impact, a settlement had to be one of two things: 1. High dollar value; or 2. Precedent-setting—or at least have the potential to influence similar cases to follow. (Sounds simple, but you try getting Stephen, John, Jaime, Michelle and Ben to settle in on just 7 settlements with just those criteria…) So here we go…7 game-changing settlements for ’09…

1) Family takes on GlaxoSmithKline  

Michelle David filed a lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, alleging the company’s antidepressant, Paxil was responsible for her son’s birth defects. David said she had taken Paxil while pregnant and was not aware of the potential side effects. GlaxoSmithKline said that birth defects occur in between three and five percent of all live births, regardless of Paxil use. 

A jury found, in a 10-2 decision, that GlaxoSmithKline’s officials were negligent in failing to warn David’s doctor about the risks of Paxil. The jury also found that Paxil was a factual cause of the little boy’s heart problems. David was awarded $2.5 million.

Why it’s impactful:There are 600 or so lawsuits alleging Paxil caused birth defects waiting in Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Asbestos, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Philip Morris, Wal-Mart, Wyeth
Posted in Settlement | No Comments »

Lawsuits Needed Against Prescribing Quacks

April 24th, 2009. By Evelyn Pringle

On April 21, 2009, the Miami Herald reported that a 7-year-old boy in Florida, Gabriel Myers, had committed suicide by hanging himself with a detachable shower head in a bathroom of the foster care home he was placed in three weeks earlier. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ADHD, atypical antipsychotic, bipolar, Eli Lilly, Glaxo, J&J, paxil, Risperdal, Seroquel, SSRI, suicide, Symbyax, Zyprexa
Posted in Emerging Issues | 8 Comments »