First, the
US Senate Finance Committee and then the
New Jersey Attorney General want to know about allegations made by former Amgen sales reps, who have filed complaints charging they suffered retaliation after resisting orders to promote Enbrel off-label and pull patient files from physician offices.
Now, the Florida Attorney General, Bill McCollum, is also interested. One of the lawyers in his office is scheduled to speak this week with both former Amgen sales reps, according to Lydia Cotz, the attorney for the reps. At issue is the interplay between sales reps and docs, a hot topic as regulators, legislators and law enforcement officials increasingly scrutinize pharma's marketing practices. In Amgen's case, the former sales reps say they were instructed to use allegedly improper tactics to boost scrips for Enbrel, which is used to treat moderate to severe psoriasis, among other things.
A spokeswoman for the Florida AG wouldn't comment on the planned interviews, but did send us this note: "Our office is aware of the issues surrounding Enbrel and has been monitoring the situation, but at this point, we have not launched a formal investigation or made any civil investigative demands." We'll let you know if his office follows the NJ AG and issues a subpoena.
3 Comments
Its about time marketing of drugs was investigated. The lassair faire (fr. hands off) attitude of the Bush administration has porduced a perhaps fatal rip in the doctor-pt relationship. I closed my private practice of family medicine earlier than planned. I wanted to heal the sick and comfort the dying. I found I was no longer doing this, I was figuring out latest govt. regulaitons, refiguring my practice--the more I did for the pt., the more money I made---most of it was unnecessairy, doing tests, treatments because I needed to cover possible malpractice claims. Drug company freebie, georgeous trips, event tickets, lovely meals preceeding imitation educational programs, What a waste. I took one drug sponsored trip: The Doral Country Club in Miami for a program on allergies. It was for female physicians only. Husbands and children were invited, and my husband had a once in a lifetime opportunity to socalize with other nonphysician husbands of women physician. Lack of oversight has produced a monster who feeds on government reimbursment and insurnace premiums. I recently received a 1,300 page catalog of "rehabilitation equipment" This was a slick,expensively photographed tightly spaced catalog.Hundreds of variations on the same rehab item: over 50 splints for sprained ankle support.Think what a growth industry this is!! I hesitate to go into the "livivng dead" industry. We peeked at it in the Mary Jo Shively incident. What a belly laugh!!! Congressmen and women staying in the capitol all night and day, cushy cots,catered meals. And we can't get a quoram, or decent discussion on the war budget. There are thousands of "long term care"hospitals. They are tucked way at the back of quiet neighborhoods. No one notices them, much less counts them. They siphon off a large percentage of our best critical care nurses!!! These are the living quarters of the living dead------people who have died, but whose families keep their bodies "alive" on ventilators------vegetable gardens. This is largely paid for by government payments. Yes, the pharmaceutical industry is twisting the laws to its financial advantage. I've not mentioned they buy almost all ingredients from China and India, with no oversight, then just assemble the pills in the USA and label them 'made in America". Perscribers are waking up, hopefully patients also. Keep up the pressure. Sure, we have the "best medicine" in the world, but, what percentage of our citizens have access to it. One last rant. I worked for a few weeks in a FEDERALLLY FUNDED CLINIC in the hispanic area if town. I couldn't handle it. Most of the patients were here illegally!! (no sruprise) I saw sooo many older folks who were "here for the summer vacation" and ready to go back to Mexico,---and wanted "a good check up before going back". Lab, EKG, xrays, specialist consults, medication-----all paid for by federal dollars. My daughter's father in law was a hard working man. He did carpentry, was married to one woman, raided two college educated, hard working, law abiding sons. Ralph knew he had heart trouble. He had a minor heart attack 3 years ago. He finally paid off the 5 day hospital stay, the medicines were too expensive for him. He died last May of a massive heart attack at 64 years of age. He refused to go to a doctor, or hospital because he didn't want to saddle his boys with a huge hospital bill. What is wrong with this picture? Why full paid health care for illegal aliens, and pay in full care for born in America,law abiding,hard working,tax paying citizens?
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