January 18, 2008

Lilly Is Not Amused

Eli Lilly fired off a press release today, noting its objections to how it handled data in clinical trials of its anti-depressant Prozac. This all comes in response to the New York Times' coverage of the New England Journal of Medicine study of the other day which revealed that a number of negative studies for anti-depressants had gone unpublished, allowing manufacturers to make unjustifiably outsized claims about the effectiveness of their drugs. There's some coverage of Lilly's response here. And Lilly's press release is here.

Lilly claims:

"Not only was the Times' story inaccurate when it comes to Prozac -- the NEJM article didn't identify a single Prozac study as unpublished -- but it also likely created a strong false impression with readers that Lilly suppresses data."

Lilly is right that other drugs--Zoloft and Paxil among them--were more the beneficiaries of a false bounce than was Prozac, based upon the study, which I've previously written about here.

But as far as false impressions of data suppression go, I'm afraid it's Lilly using this moment to turn itself into something it wasn't until the very recent past. The press release notes:

"In December 2004, Lilly was widely recognized as the first pharmaceutical company to voluntarily launch a clinical trials registry, where we post the results of all Lilly sponsored registration clinical trials for all of our marketed products dating back to 1994, and all clinical trials for marketed products since December 2004."

Let's see: Prozac comes off-patent in 2001 and is no longer flashed before the public as in the 1990s when the company was repeatedly accused of hiding clinical trials data, accusations which I happen to believe are factual. Three years later in 2004, the company decides to become more transparent and then posts all the old studies to the web. It's nice that Lilly is playing catch-up, but that hardly absolves the company of its past behavior and the bad old days when Lilly suppressed data.

I'd say the company earned its reputation long ago.

Speaking of which, one of the charms of the Zyprexa documents is to read through them and listen to Lilly execs talk about how its sales force should never admit to a connection between cases of diabetes, explosive weight gain, hyperglycemia, pancreatitis and its star drug Zyprexa. Even more fun is when Japanese regulators slapped warning labels on the drug in 2002 and within months Lilly had its sales force in PCPs' office throughout America telling docs that the drug was safe as could be and should be pressed upon agitated women.

That's some nice transparency.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at January 18, 2008 03:25 PM
StumbleUpon Toolbar del.icio.us Digg it reddit
Comments

Yes, both Japan and the UK, LOOKING AT THEIR MEDWATCH DATA, made Lilly put a warning on the label of Zyprexa in Spring 2002. When the FDA fin ally made them place a similar warning at the end of 2003, it had nothing to do with transparency. It had everything to do with the three giant front page articles about the lethal drug WS Journal, Baltimore Sun, NY Times in the Spring of 2003. The articles embarrassed the fda so they acted. Funny how our protector of the public acts only when mortified by newspapers.

Posted by: Sorrowful at January 19, 2008 08:50 AM

I met a Eli Lilly pusher at my Dad's funeral reception. I had just spoken at graveside, and needless to say, I heard myself in my grief-filled-fog tell this person about Lilly and the documents for Zyprexa. Damn if that wasn't icing on a bad cake, hearing the person say it was the doctor's fault and only a doctor's fault for rx'ing bad shit. Hi, let me tell you about lies and scandal.

Posted by: Stephany at January 19, 2008 07:18 PM

Hey I just looked around on the Lilly site and discovered there are several job openings for "medical information specialists" AKA drug reps.

Posted by: Sorrowful at January 20, 2008 05:43 PM

Did Elliot Spitzer go after the drug companies as NYC DA? If he didn't, he should have...

Posted by: molly_g at January 20, 2008 09:28 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?






pic1.jpg

Winter Fundraiser Underway!!!
Patient Blogs. Sites.
Doctor Blogs. Sites.
Activists. News.
Social Networking. Forums.
Science. Big Pharma. Ethics.
Current Affairs
Seattle Stuff
Smoking. Stuff.

Info
About Furious Seasons
Email
Other Articles
ZYPREXA Documents
Alt ZYPREXA Documents Source
Blakemore-Brown Transcript

 Subscribe in a reader

Recent Entries
Winter Fundraiser, An Early Start
Reasons To Be Skeptical Of "Female Viagra" Drug, Big Pharma's Spanish Fly
Medical Marijuana For Autism?
AstraZeneca Whines About Chicago Tribune's Seroquel Coverage
Big Pharma's Sneaky Trick
Researchers Ignore Problems With Meds In Early Deaths, Blame Smoking, No Exercise
Researchers' New Pediatric Bipolar Disorder Symptoms Include Bed Wetting, Nightmares
Fort Hood Shooting: Was Psychiatrist-Shooter Psychotic Or A Terrorist?
Yale Researcher Links Childhood ADHD To Adult Crime, Drug Dealing
Senator Wants Pentagon To Account For Troop Anti-Depressant Use, Suicide Link
British Government To Limit Antipsychotic Use For Dementia
Child Psychiatrists Behaving Badly With Children
Utah Settles Zyprexa Claims For $24 Million
Psychiatrist Got $490,000 Pimping For Seroquel, Engaged In Wide Off-Label Use
Why Auto Insurance And Health Insurance Aren't The Same, Mr. President
Recent Comments

molly_g on Lilly Is Not Amused

Sorrowful on Lilly Is Not Amused

Stephany on Lilly Is Not Amused

Sorrowful on Lilly Is Not Amused

Archives
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
Resources
Mental Health America
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
National Institute of Mental Health
McMan Web
Search


Powered by
Movable Type 3.2