Pfizer And Wyeth Sued By Nevada Attorney General
2 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // November 18th, 2008 // 8:31 pm
The drugmakers allegedly engaged in deceptive trade practices as they went about selling four hormone therapy meds, according to a lawsuit filed in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas. Attorney General Cortez Masto claims Nevada consumers and doctors were misled about the safety of Wyeth’s Premarin, Prempro and Premphase, and Pfizer’s Provera.
“When drug companies purposefully misrepresent the safety and efficacy of their drugs, or promote their drugs in a deceptive way, everybody loses,” Masto says in a statement. “We’re confident we have the facts necessary to prove this case, and we hope this lawsuit and its outcome will deter improper drug company practices in Nevada.”
The suit contends that Wyeth and Pfizer intentionally minimized the risks and exaggerated the benefits, causing docs to overprescribe and a big increase in hormone-positive breast cancers in post-menopausal women. The drugmakers also allegedly provided false, deceptive and inappropriate info about their meds by way of DTC ads, brochures, continuing medical education programs and ghost-written journal articles, according to the suit (here is the lawsuit).
Masto is working with two private law firms that have been litigating similar cases for several years. One of those cases led to a $58 million award that Wyeth was ordered to pay three Nevada women who claimed that Prempro caused their breast cancer. Wyeth appealed that verdict (back story). And earlier this year, a federal jury ordered Wyeth and Pfizer’s Upjohn unit to pay more than $27 million to a Little Rock, Arkansas, woman who contracted breast cancer after taking their hormone replacement meds (back story).
Hypocrisy rules
The bigpharmafia just can’t stop doing business using their time proven “alternative” ways of doing biz. These alternative ways include all kinds of unethical, illegal, immoral and even criminal ways that they find so effective in bringing in additional profits that could not be possible with using only the legal business practices.
When they use the alternatives, the math changes, so 1+1=3, meaning that alternative ways bring in so much additional profit. And they never learn or they don’t want to learn. Both of these cos have already paid huge amounts in fines for doing similar things. Pfizer paid, what $430.000.000.00 for the Neurontin offlabel promo.
One would think that such huge fines would deter them, but it does not seem to be the case.
Now imagine what they do in other countries where they have no such strong laws as in USA. In Canada same companies do same if not worse things with impunity. The worse thing that can happen they get fined $5 - 10.000.00 by what they call Rx&D, industry self reg. body. Yes that is thousands not millions. These fines are just considered as minor cost of doing biz.
By the looks of it, even in USA fines in millions are also considered cost of doing biz just like in Canada.
Is it ever going to end? Not likely it is simply too profitable to give it up.
Sepp
I’d like to report I had trouble with this page coming up. Several times, I got it up and a second later it vanished.
Finally succeeded to stay on the page by interrupting the loading process before the page vanished.
Sepp