Friday, November 08, 2013

The message is take the medicine.

Johnson & Johnson made a $2.2 billion settlement this week for illegally marketing drugs to the elderly, children and the mentally disabled looks like a victory.  J&J’s subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, pleaded guilty to illegally promoting the anti-psychotic Risperdal for “controlling aggression and anxiety in elderly dementia patients and treating behavioral disturbances in children and in individuals with disabilities,”

 J&J made $24.2 billion off Risperdal from 2003 to 2010 and shareholders will take little of notice this "punishment" fine. J&J milked Risperdal for all it was worth and the patent had already run out by the time it was charged with illegal schemes. Other drug giants involved in  illegal marketing schemes,  Eli Lilly who makes the similar drug Zyprexa and AstraZeneca who makes Seroquel have also settled charges. Still to be settled Abbott for Depakote, Pfizer for Bextra,  EGlaxoSmithKline for Paxil and Merck for Vioxx . Many, like Pfizer, who illegally marketed its seizure drug Neurontin while under probation for illegal Lipitor activities, are brazen and shameless repeat offenders.

Do you suffer low back pain then you may actually suffer from ankylosing spondylitis, an arthritis-like condition that causes chronic inflammation of the spine.  If your spine is stiff when you wake up in the morning, you can take an immune suppressor like Humira which puts you at risk of tuberculosis and lethal viral, fungal and bacterial infections while costing you $12,000 to $17,000 a year.

Do you suffer from insomnia, tiredness during the day, moodiness and relationship problems then you perhaps actually suffer from Non-24-Hour Sleep–Wake Disorder, a disorder that affects mostly blind people. You don’t have to be blind to have the disorder, says the new Pharma message even though there have been fewer than 100 cases of sighted people with non-24 reported in the scientific literature.

Big Pharma did a good advertising campaign convincing people with job, money and marriage problems they really had depression or bipolar disorder. For the ad-people, it’s worth doing again.


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