Pfizer certainly has all our best interests at heart.
Remember, the name of the game is "science"--not MONEY.
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FDA chastises Pfizer over false advertising of Viagra
wrongdiagnosis.com
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False Marketing of Neurontin Nets Pfizer A $430M Fine
May 19, 2004 | Morris News Bee
yourlawyer.com
In a settlement worked out between Pfizer and the United States Justice Department, the pharmaceutical company agreed to plead guilty to charges it illegally promoted non-approved uses for its anti-epilepsy drug Neurontin and pay $430 million in fines.
Pfizer to pay $430 million for false drug marketing
by Lisa Richwine, Reuters 13 May 2004
Pfizer has agreed to pay $430 million and plead guilty to criminal charges for illegally marketing an epilepsy drug for unapproved uses
promoted the drug, Neurontin, for uses it had no scientific evidence to support...
business-humanrights.org
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FDA accuses Pfizer of false advertising for Geodon –
Pfizer's ad for anti-psychotic drug misleading, omits health risk info, says FDA.
By Aaron Smith, CNNMoney.com staff writer August 14 2007
money.cnn.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The FDA on Monday accused Pfizer of false advertising for its anti-schizophrenia drug Geodon.
The Food and Drug Administration, in a letter posted on its Web site, said that a Pfizer advertisement appearing in a medical journal "is false or misleading because it omits important risk information and contains unsubstantiated superiority claims."
The FDA said that Pfizer omitted health risks that have been attributed to the injectable drug Geodon, including diabetes, high blood pressure and neurological disorders.
The FDA said that Pfizer used the term "movement disorders" to refer to a disorder called tardive dyskensia, a description that is "insufficient" to communicate its seriousness.
"By omitting these risks, the journal ad misleadingly suggests that Geodon for Injections is safer than has been demonstrated," said the FDA letter.
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Female and Elder Consumers and Payers Sue Pfizer Over Deceptive Marketing of Lipitor(R)
Plaintiffs Allege Promotional Scheme to Boost Sales of World's Best-Selling Drug by Misleading Women and Seniors About Link Between the Drug and Heart Disease
PR Newswire Association LLC. September 28, 2005
consumersunion.org
BOSTON, Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers today filed the first-of-its- kind nationwide class-action lawsuit against Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), claiming the world's largest drug company misled consumers into using its anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor despite the absence of evidence from clinical trials that these drugs are of any benefit to large segments of the population.
According to Steve Berman, the lead attorney for the proposed class, Pfizer promoted Lipitor by claiming it prevents heart disease in women and the elderly, where no clinical test has established such a benefit. In fact, according to the complaint, women without heart disease taking Lipitor actually developed 10 percent more heart attacks than women treated with a placebo.
The lawsuit alleges that Pfizer engaged in a massive campaign to convince both doctors and patients that Lipitor is a beneficial treatment for nearly everyone with elevated cholesterol, even though no studies have shown it to be effective for women and those over 65 years of age who do not already have heart disease or diabetes.
Normally, drugs become widely used as treatments for patients only when a well-designed clinical trial finds that the drug is safe and effective for patients of the same type and age. No such trial has shown that Lipitor helps the elderly or females without prior heart disease. "We believe Pfizer intentionally ignored the scientific evidence -- and lack thereof -- and launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign designed to push the drug to anyone they could convince to buy it," Berman said. "We intend to prove that Pfizer pocketed billions in sales to those who do not benefit from Lipitor."
Lipitor is in the class of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins and it is the best-selling drug in the world, with sales in 2004 of more than $10 billion.
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Pfizer Reportedly Used False Letter to Justify Nigerian Drug Experiment
articles.latimes.com
A Nigerian doctor says his office created a backdated letter that the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc. later used to justify its conduct in a controversial drug experiment on ill children in the African nation, the Washington Post reported.
The newspaper, on its Web site Monday, quoted the doctor as saying the document was created when Pfizer officials asked for proof that the earlier tests had been reviewed in advance by a Nigerian ethics committee, as required by U.S. law.
Pfizer spokesman Andy McCormick said last week that he was unaware of possible irregularities in the Nigerian ethics approval document.
Pfizer, based in New York, gave the letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1997 during an audit of records supporting its application to use the drug Trovan for treatment of children during a meningitis epidemic. It is a violation of federal law to knowingly submit false documents.
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PFIZER FOUND GUILTY OF MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS
NY TIMES August 24, 1994
query.nytimes.com
A Federal court found Pfizer Inc. guilty of making false and misleading comments about a rival product by Miles Pharmaceutical
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Lafley's P&G Says Pfizer Fibbing About Mouthwash
forbes.com
Parmy Olson, 03.21.06
Procter & Gamble the world's number one maker of household products, has told a U.S. court that the pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer is badmouthing P&G's brand of mouthwash to dentists. Pfizer is "now engaged in a campaign of disinformation to dental professionals concerning Crest Pro-Health," P&G was quoted by The Associated Press as saying in the court statement.
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newswithviews.com
Pfizer's false advertising isn't the only action taken to procure profits from cholesterol lowering drug sales. Clinical trials showed that Lipitor is effective at doses ranging from 2.5mg to 5mg. , , However, in a race for more money, Pfizer demands that Lipitor be prescribed starting at 10mg. This starting dose is approximately 300% higher than the effective dose! More astounding, doctors are now prescribing up to 80mgs! If this is not capitalistic drug dealing, What is?
If you are currently taking statins this fact elucidates why you are required to go in for <B?regular liver testing, you are being overdosed. Fortunately, 50% of those who take cholesterol lowering drugs quit voluntarily due to experiencing negative side effects.
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Pfizer’s New Rat-Vomit Ad Raises Questions About Where Drugs Really Come From
By Jim Edwards | January 20th, 2009
industry.bnet.com
Pfizer has launched a scary new ad warning people of the dangers of buying pharmaceuticals without a prescription. The ad — which shows a man taking a pill and then vomiting up a dead rat — asks consumers to not buy medicines without prescriptions from websites because the unregulated, unchecked ingredients may be poisonous.
The ad is a good one — buying pills from websites is a stupid idea. But it also raises an awkward question for Pfizer, where do its medicines come from? CEO Jeff Kindler told investors in October that he expected Pfizer to be “in” 137 cities in China by the end of 2008. It wasn’t clear whether those cities would contain factories, R&D sites or offices for sales rep managers.
At the same time, the FDA is planning to increase the number of inspectors in China — to just twelve people. Those inspectors can inspect only 80 factories a year.
It’s not just Pfizer. Europe’s only manufacturer of paracetemol recently closed its last factory in France and moved to China and India.
Multiply that trend across all drug manufacturers and you can quickly see that the chances of getting your Chinese drug factory inspected by the FDA in a given year are small.
Should you be concerned? Yes. At least 103 people were killed by adulterated heparin produced in Chinese factories. Baxter is currently being sued in the U.S. in a consumer fraud action over the incident.
More generally, it leaves the U.S. dependent on foreign countries who are not always our allies for our medicines. The NY Times points out:
“The lack of regulation around outsourcing is a blind spot that leaves room for supply disruptions, counterfeit medicines, even bioterrorism,” said Senator Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio.
So, back to Pfizer’s rat-vomit ad — it makes a good point. But it would be nice if Pfizer also located its manufacturing facilities in places where English-speaking health inspectors could look at them.
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The Incredible Shrinking Pfizer?
FORBES Lisa LaMotta, 01.16.09
forbes.com
Pharmaceutical company may cut 2,400 jobs on top of its 800 recent layoffs.
Just days after Pfizer announced it was cutting 800 people from its research department, rumors have surfaced that the pharmaceutical company might dismiss another 2,400 from its sales team.
The New York City-based pharmaceutical company wouldn't confirm or deny reports that it will be trimming its sales force by almost a third, but several reports have suggested the company will be executing further layoffs. (See "Pfizer Says Goodbye To 800 Workers.")
Pfizer (nyse: PFE - news - people ), the largest drug company in the world, announced earlier this week that it had slashed the staff in its research labs by 5.0%, to 8.0%, throughout 2009 -- another sign that the labs are failing to produce the desired results.
"This is part of an ongoing evolution to focus Pfizer and we are going to continue to look for efficiencies and more effective ways to run our company," said Pfizer spokesman Ray Kerins of the first round of layoffs. He added on Friday that Pfizer doesn't "comment on rumors or speculation," but it's planning to "reshape our company into smaller, more focused units to best deploy our valuable resources and drive decision making closer to our customers and to the markets in which we operate."
The big pharma let go of 13,500 people since its restructuring in 2007, and it announced that it was shifting its strategic focus. The company said in late-September that it would be changing gears from medicines that treat high cholesterol to more lucrative therapeutic areas like the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and pain management. (See "Pfizer's Change Of Heart.") |
