Furious Seasons

September 08, 2009

Court Documents Show Lilly Paid Docs To Prescribe Zyprexa

This is maddening: court documents released today show details of so-called call notes made by Lilly sales reps of visits and golf games with doctors in South Carolina, where the company was working hard to get doctors to switch patients to Zyprexa, even for unapproved uses. There were basically payoffs going on, the State of South Carolina alleges in a lawsuit against Lilly, and some of that involved reps making bets with doctors during golf games. One doc agreed that for each time a sales rep made par during one outing that he'd start a new patient on Zyprexa, according to Bloomberg.

And then there was this:

"Lawyers for the state pointed to a sales note from Sullivan in which he tells another salesman to tie a doctor’s Zyprexa prescriptions to participation in a speakers’ program.
"The company paid doctors and psychiatrists to address physician gatherings about the benefits of the antipsychotic. 'If his numbers go up, maybe he can talk,' Sullivan said in the August 2001 note."

The state's case against Lilly could go to trial later this month. Lilly told Bloomberg that the notes were taken out of context. Yeah, right.

At this point a question has got to be asked: why the hell are the doctors who keep taking payoffs from pharma companies--a la last week's Pfizer settlement--not named publicly? Why are they still practicing medicine? Why are they facing no discipline of any kind?

Posted by Philip Dawdy at September 8, 2009 01:28 PM

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Comments

This is maddening and probably just the tip of the iceberg. When I worked with psychiatrists the perks and marketing tools utilized by drug reps were mind boggling. The reps would call ahead and ask the office manager where they would like lunch from. They could name any restaurant in town and the reps would feed everyone a banquet. They arrived with trunks full of free samples of their medication, pens, Post-It notes, tape dispensers, pencil holders, note pads - you name it. Office supplies were rarely ordered or needed. I didn't see golf games, but I was only working in a county run clinic.

What disturbs me most is that these tactics are now being used to convince doctors to administer these same drugs to children for every possible behavior problem.

Posted by: Kellen at September 8, 2009 02:27 PM

There oughta be a law, plain and simple. It should be illegal for drug co's to pay dr's, and for drs to take the bribes. If caught, the former should be fined and exposed, and the latter lose their license, or at least some serious disciplinary action.

Posted by: MIranda at September 8, 2009 03:17 PM

Is it even possible for a psychiatrist to lose their license? If the yahoo who prescribed 600mg of Seroquel to THREE YEAR OLD Destiny Hare (who then DIED) is still practicing (and he is), I just don't know what a shrink would have to do to get his license pulled.

Posted by: kimbriel at September 8, 2009 07:20 PM

What a sickening story this is. There's a special place in hell reserved for these sales reps and their prostitutes, I mean, doctor-clients.

Posted by: Francesca Allan at September 8, 2009 07:56 PM

The drug is still for sale, now there's a problem. Thomas Laughren approved it for use by the FDA for use in teens. Now there's a problem. The FDA approved Zyprexa for use, ignores these documents and does not remove Zyprexa from the market.

Now WE have a problem. We wouldn't if the FDA wasn't as corrupt and useless and the rest of the Government, oh, but that's right, mental illness isn't a political matter or discussion. Health care reform: Pfizer paid 1 million dollars for seats at the DNC. Now, that's your problem.

Posted by: Stephany at September 9, 2009 01:13 AM