[NobodySavedMe (OP)]

Roll up! Roll up!

Read all about it.

Your lovely Big Pharma has been alleged to have been caught lying,cheating,stealing and killing on a massive scale.

The huge American company Merck has been alleged to have been caught indulging in massive fraud by setting up fake made up journalists from it's own in house staff and passing it on as peer review by independent scientists.Using these fake reviews they deceived the FDA and congress.

In other words it is alleged they used their own staff as reviewers and also paid fees (bribes) to outsiders to pin their name to their research.

It is alleged the other 5 big companies are also doing this.

What this means the prescription drug you take was not actually confirmed as either effective or safe by EXTERNAL INDEPENDENT agents.

It was confirmed by Merck who made it and profited from it!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041502086.html


Merck Caught in Massive Scientific Fraud as In-House Authors were Disguised as Independent Scientists.

Drug giant Merck has been has been alleged to have been caught red-handed in a scheme to deceive the FDA and the public over the integrity of its scientific studies, say top medical authorities. According to reports that were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and detailed in the Washington Post, Merck waged a "campaign of deception" to disguise its in-house study authors as independent scientists working for universities. This scheme made the studies appear independent and unbiased, allowing them to carry more apparent credibility to FDA officials, doctors and other scientists.

This alleged fraud was conducted to boost the apparent scientific credibility of the studies backing Vioxx, a drug that has caused well over 100,000 heart attacks and likely killed well over 50,000 Americans, according to Senate testimony by the FDA's own senior drug safety researcher Dr. David Graham. Vioxx earned Merck $2.3 billion in 2003 alone, and was one of the most lucrative drugs ever sold by any company. But since 2004, when some of the real dangers of the drug became known, a tremendous amount of evidence leading to fraud has surfaced.

It now appears quite clear that it is alleged Merck deliberately lied about the dangers of the drug, misrepresented the results of scientific studies, deceived the FDA to win drug approval, knowingly covered up evidence of the drug's dangers, and now it seems Merck even conducted a deliberate campaign of deceptive ghostwriting designed to attach independent-sounding names to in-house studies that were essentially pro-Vioxx promotional pieces disguised as scientific reports.

Americans need to file a complaint and get alleged Merck officials involved arrested and indicted for fraud,murder and manslaughter.

Americans would be far safer if Merck were shut down. In fact, the threat to Americans' health from Merck far outweighs any threat to national security by terrorists. Think about it: The current war in Iraq has killed 4,000 Americans. Just one drug from Merck has killed over 50,000 (and that's a conservative estimate). That's more than ten times the number of Americans killed in our current war!
[/i]

What's interesting about this latest revelation of alleged Merck fraud is that the documents revealing the depth of this fraud were only made public due to lawsuits filed by citizens who claim they were harmed by Merck's drugs.


Although the alleged uncovered documents prove beyond doubt the deception and fraud.The media that mosts profits from Merck has failed to mention it, thus mostly it is the print media has covered the deception.This is in great contrast to the massive anti-vitamin propaganda orchestrated last week in order to keep more people ill and increase profits for these drug companies.These people include you.

You can read more about it here:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/023052.html

[NobodySavedMe (OP)]

Nobody likes to admit being made a fool of.

Well as I see everyone here is too embarrassed to to comment on it as admitting they have been hoodwinked for years by fake peer review studies for hundreds of prescription drugs.

It is a bitter pill to swallow.Pun intended.

Just imagine all those drugs certified by the drug companies.

It would also explain why hundreds of thousands of people die from prescription drugs every year.

"Widespread Ghostwriting of Drug Trials Means "Scientific" Credibility of Pharmaceutical Industry is a Sham".

http://www.naturalnews.com/023074.html

I quote:-

The discovery that drug companies have been ghostwriting scientific studies using in-house writers, then paying (bribing) doctors and high-level academics to pretend they were the author of the article is making shockwaves across conventional medicine. This latest revelation of scientific fraud exposes a massive, widespread system of fraud involving not only the drug companies, but also hundreds of different peer-reviewed, "scientific" medical journals that have published these ghostwritten articles. This scam is the latest embarrassment to conventional medicine; a system built on such a foundation of scientific fraud that the admission of dishonesty no longer surprises anyone. The pharmaceutical industry, it seems, is now supported almost entirely by fraudulent science fabricated by marketing personnel.

To back this up, let me explain how this scam works in seven simple steps:

Step 1: A drug company runs an in-house study (using fraudulent study design from the start) to "prove" that their drug is both safe and effective. If the study produces negative results, it is thrown out. If it produces positive results, proceed to step 2.


Step 2:-

http://www.naturalnews.com/023074.html

[rosalind dna]

Yes, I know that as it's actually the big medical companies,who
pay for this research to be done as they've been doing since the
second half of the 20th century.

Same goes for the food (companies) "unbiased" reports including the Food, Safety Agency which is a UK government's quango. 

[iko]

Hi friends,

In my personal opinion you are too pessimistic about this issue.
The very same fact that these frauds have been reported by media and are currently prosecuted is positive.

I'm reading this neat book by Dr. Marcia Angell (former editor of the N.Eng.J.Med!):
"The Truth About the Drug Companies. How they deceive us and what to do about it"
It explains the mechanisms by which Big Pharma control heavily our Health Systems, and more.
"The one who pays the piper calls the tune"
So I know another english motto.
Knowing things and facts first, helps to fight and counteract the 'devils' in the future.
Working in NHS here helps to keep out of the 'big business'...there is not so much money and time to fly here and there and being continuously educated by the Big Pharma.
Good work and hard nightshifts of nurses, technicians and docs make me think positive.
They save lots of lives.
They saved my kid.

Ikorny



 
http://www.scribepublications.com.au/files/book/cover_image/147/TADC.jpg
http://www.bu.edu/alumni/bostonia/graphics/2004/fall/perspectives/prescription/prescription01.jpg

[JimBob]

Not only Merck, but several other companies have now been "implicated" in this "practice."

This from CNN and CNBC news channels - CNN - in my opinion unbiased and CNBC a financial News network, who if it were not unbiased would not be able to stay on the air - people with money and power listen to them.

The fact that words such as "implicated" and "practice" were use indicates that even these networks do not want a liability suit for defamation of character from these "corporate giants" - massive bullies and "corporate bribery machines" is more like it.

As a person with a lot of problems physically, I am very careful of what i take. The research I have done makes me throw half of the things prescribed away in favor of the natural remedies.

[Andrew K Fletcher]

JimBob Looks like you are wiseing up to the drug cartels. The bin is the best place for many of those drugs. They killed my father and May also have killed my wife's mother. She took so many pills she rattled as she walked. We took two shopping bags full of dangerous drugs back to the pharma who dilligently supplied her better than any street drug dealer could have. Metformin killed my dad! Nearly killed my friend in Brixham and definately aided the demise of my Wifes mum.

[iko]

JimBob Looks like you are wiseing up to the drug cartels. The bin is the best place for many of those drugs. They killed my father and May also have killed my wife's mother. She took so many pills she rattled as she walked. We took two shopping bags full of dangerous drugs back to the pharma who dilligently supplied her better than any street drug dealer could have. Metformin killed my dad! Nearly killed my friend in Brixham and definately aided the demise of my Wifes mum.

I see your point Andrew, but we must be careful not to criminalize too much.
Shortly, I don't think there are good drugs and bad drugs.
We simply have DRUGS: powerful tools that should be used by careful professionals only.
Treatment means a day-by-day close monitoring of results and adverse effects in each patient.

We may need drugs sometimes in our life.  If we refused this reality, we would be ready to die 'naturally' in this new millennium of septicemia due to a badly treated tooth abscess (one example of many).

[lyner]

HM Government does the same thing - employ Scientists to advise you and then choose the answer you wanted in the first place This is driven by money in the same way.

[StereoChemist]

Does anybody know if there is a list of drugs that have been passed by the FDA due to this fraud?  I would really like to know what drugs specifically have been subject to this so that I can make sure family/friends and myself aren't taking them.

[NobodySavedMe (OP)]

Does anybody know if there is a list of drugs that have been passed by the FDA due to this fraud?  I would really like to know what drugs specifically have been subject to this so that I can make sure family/friends and myself aren't taking them.

Vioxx is a major drug that caused many thousands of death.estimated up to 50000.

Many others have also been passed using fake peer review.Too many to list.
Amazingly how the mass media failed to mention this huge fraud impacting everyone's lives including the braindead reporters and braindead newsroom editors.

[NobodySavedMe (OP)]

HM Government does the same thing - employ Scientists to advise you and then choose the answer you wanted in the first place This is driven by money in the same way.

The scientists they "employ" always seem to be on some panel for some vested interest or some business or companyi

The latest propaganda is to to force girls to have gardsil vaccine injected to lower the risk of cervical cancer from the cancer causing papilomma virus acquired by promiscuity.no mention of the side effects.

[daveshorts]

There are definitely issues with the big drugs companies, but the very fact that we are appalled when they use underhand tactics like this is a very good sign. If you look at the 'alternatives' doing actual real research is definitely the exception rather than the rule. People are selling 'herbal remedies' with bad dose control and no evidence for it's negative effects. Remember strychnine, belladonna etc are all natural, but not at all good for you - and if it is a drug and does something useful there will be side effects!

The problem is, humans are hideously complex systems, and so developing drugs is horribly expensive, this means big business  and with big business comes problems. But that doesn't mean that there are not tens of thousands of people working very hard to, and managing to make people's lives a lot better. The problem with Viox wasn't that it increased the chances of a heart attack, if someone is in really bad pain, the tradeoff may well be useful, the problem was that it was oversold, and evidence for it having some side effects was covered up.

If you are interested in this sort of thing read Ben Goldacre's Blog (www.badscience.net) He bashes anyone who is not using good scientific technique, be they mainstream, or alternative...

[JimBob]

Does anybody know if there is a list of drugs that have been passed by the FDA due to this fraud?  I would really like to know what drugs specifically have been subject to this so that I can make sure family/friends and myself aren't taking them.

The FDA has recently had a news conference saying they were so underfunded that they had to depend on the companies in most cases. Some drug companies, perhaps all, have taken advantage of this oversight inability.

What needs be done is the waste in our government cut (as well as a foreign policy overhaul - read Iraq here) and if needed, for our taxes to be raised in order for our government to do what we pay for it to do.

The U.S. sometimes seem to be as bad as some South American governments in corruption and abuse. It isn't that bad I know, but perceptions are leading in that direction.

[iko]

The U.S. sometimes seem to be as bad as some South American governments in corruption and abuse. It isn't that bad I know, but perceptions are leading in that direction.

I find Dr. Angell's book quite interesting and surprisingly streightforward when dealing with the Big Pharma and their "me-too" copycat drugs.
Being a 25yrs subscriber of the Journal she had been leading for many years, I was really shocked by her courage and honesty in denouncing those 'tricks'.
Huge profits aren't justified by research expenses (most studies are NIH funded) and too much money goes to promotion and 'educational' activities.
The simple fact that a newly patented (expensive) "me-too" drug is currently tested versus a placebo instead of the cheaper previous compound tells the story.
Your Country seems to have the right people in position to make a big change in this field.  We'll see.

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=QHGKLbDt_2Q
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=_--xnJVC2AU

“I think  the public is becoming very disillusioned; they are no longer believing
that this is a miracle industry in the sense they may once have believed that.
So in a sense I think it’s just a matter of the public starting
to put all this together and put pressure on the Congress “


Dr. M.Angell

 
http://www.liberonweb.com/images/books/8842813818.jpg
http://www.nextgenmd.org/vol1-5/pictures/angell.jpg

Mind you, this could be an italian dream only: no result through a CNN.com search!

[NobodySavedMe (OP)]

Does anybody know if there is a list of drugs that have been passed by the FDA due to this fraud?  I would really like to know what drugs specifically have been subject to this so that I can make sure family/friends and myself aren't taking them.

The FDA has recently had a news conference saying they were so underfunded that they had to depend on the companies in most cases. Some drug companies, perhaps all, have taken advantage of this oversight inability.

What needs be done is the waste in our government cut (as well as a foreign policy overhaul - read Iraq here) and if needed, for our taxes to be raised in order for our government to do what we pay for it to do.

The U.S. sometimes seem to be as bad as some South American governments in corruption and abuse. It isn't that bad I know, but perceptions are leading in that direction.

The FDA is rife with corruption and represents the interests of drug companies.Most of the staff in the FDA get promised lucrative positions with the drug companies when they leave provided theytow the line of the drug companies.

In any case we should not put with that kind of corruption and ban these drugs from being imported as the peer review process has been corrupted.

I think it was New Scientist which reported that you can "buy" peer review approval for $10000.Pocket change to these companies.

[SB_UK]

grear series of posts -
'money money money'
- hate the stuff - it gets in the way of everything worthwhile -

- as these monster corporations ('big pharma') form - potential new entrants into the field are placed at great disadvantage
- an example -
I've heard it mention that only large pharma have the financial clout to clear 'regulatory' as they call it -
- inadvertently placing their organizations in 'go to' positions -

- the solution to this problem is simple -
to have a non-corporate (governmental) entity which listens to a drug company's presentation on the drug -
particularly relating to the improvements which their new drugs offer in relation to drugs already on the market
(incidentally this is supposedly a part of the procedure already -
(demonstrating significant improvement (that is))
- though the phalanx of 'fast-followers' which accompany any novel agent
- at least for me -
- suggests the otherwise) -

... ... ... so (continuing) ... ... ...
- the solution is simple -
to have a non-corporate (governmental) entity which listens to a drug company's presentation on the novel therapeutic worth of their new drug -
- whereafter - the drug company pays the governmental organization to replicate its findings.

If the governmental organization cannot replicate the findings of the drug company -
then the drug is rejected for acceptance - and of course the drug company is not refunded the undoubtedly large amount of money which it has paid to the state -

- neither is the money refunded if the drug passes 'regulatory stipulations.'

I'm thinking that perhaps the drug company will be less keen to apply for acceptance of any new drug - if the benefits over predecessor are not statistically robust -
in the end - we'll (people) all end up winning
(only corporate malpractice will lose out
- and like :-) 
- so who cares about that?   
- I certainly don't)

If you guys want to know how ridiculous drug companies are -
in the drug discovery department (around 50 people) of our local (to Cambridge) big pharmaceutical company -
each *month* there's a compulsory attendance meeting in which a gold, silver and bronze medal is awarded to members of staff -
the member needs to go up to the front of an auditorium and collect the medal in front of 'idiot board' applause -

and so to re-iterate that's on a *monthly* basis -
and on a yearly basis - there's an 'absolute best of the best' award 

How long before tearful acceptance speeches ?
which end

'Thankyou pharmaceutical company department
- I've been 'Bilbo Baggins' and you've all been beaten
- 'losers!!!' every last one of you
ha ha haaa!
Thank you and goodnight'

to more automaton applause

:-)

*too ridiculous*
- all of it (actually) -

- the corporate corporeal tendency as we attempt to through off shackles of physical existence for higher (in every useful sense) calling of mind and spirit.   

[iko]

Drug companies had been criticized even by distinguished scientists like Barry Marshall (another Marshall), interviewed for his 2005 Nobel Prize (Physiol. and Med.):

...

"The excitement for the drug companies is not there, because the drug companies were making so much money out of ulcer treatments, and if you analyse the pharmaceutical industry, you’ll see that the pharmaceutical giants are interested in treatments, which go on and on for years: like blood pressure, cholesterol, and that’s why these are the very big money makers for the drug companies. 

They don’t make much money out of a cure, because you can only take it once."

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2005/marshall-docu.html

Barry Marshall and Robin Warren - Nobel Prize 2005
http://www.australianoftheyear.gov.au/pages/images/WA%20Prof%20Barry%20Marshall%20&%20Prof%20Robin%20Warren%20AOTY%20(2).jpg

[Andrew K Fletcher]

When you are addicted to drugs you don't even have to remember when you need them your dealer remembers for you!

How many more sales would the dealer make if he had the blessing of the governments who take their cut out of the profits and allow you to advertise in all of the media outlets?

How many more sales would the dealer make if he had qualified doctors in white coats handing out dangerous drugs with known serious side effects, who again take their cut?

Would his business take off it became no only legalised but had outlets in every town in the country and even allowed you to get your fix online?

Well..... this is the position that the drug companies have created for themselves! They not only manufacture, patent and control the drugs, they falsify their validity and push them down the throats and inject them into the arms of people who would never consider themselves as being a drug dealers user!

Marijuana vending machines in US 
 
Eleven US states allow medical marijuana on doctors' orders
Vending machines distributing the drug marijuana are to begin operating in the US state of California.
The machines can only be used by people who have been prescribed the drug for health reasons.

Patients will have to provide a prescription, and be fingerprinted and photographed before being allowed to use the facilities.

Eleven US states allow the medicinal use of marijuana, primarily for pain relief, but it remains controversial.

Vince Mehdizadeh, owner of the Herbal Nutrition Centre in Los Angeles, where one of the two first machines is based, said it would allow patients to buy extra supplies whenever needed.

Series of checks

Once the users have been photographed, fingerprinted and have shown their prescription, they will be issued with a card which can be used in the machines, he told KWTX News 10 in the US.

"They'll be greeted by a security guard right there. They'll slide the card in and they'll fingerprint in to verify that it's them," he was quoted by KWTX News 10 as saying.

"A camera takes a picture of them, verifying that they're actually at the machine. And they get the medicine and they move on."

The operators think that vending machines issuing prescription drugs could become a common sight in the US.

Proponents say marijauna is a valuable tool for relieving pain and stimulating appetite in the sick.

However, it remains banned by the 1970 Controlled Substances Act and the US federal government does not currently recognise any legitimate medical use.
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7212778.stm

[NobodySavedMe (OP)]

When you are addicted to drugs you don't even have to remember when you need them your dealer remembers for you!

How many more sales would the dealer make if he had the blessing of the governments who take their cut out of the profits and allow you to advertise in all of the media outlets?

How many more sales would the dealer make if he had qualified doctors in white coats handing out dangerous drugs with known serious side effects, who again take their cut?

Would his business take off it became no only legalised but had outlets in every town in the country and even allowed you to get your fix online?

Well..... this is the position that the drug companies have created for themselves! They not only manufacture, patent and control the drugs, they falsify their validity and push them down the throats and inject them into the arms of people who would never consider themselves as being a drug dealers user!

Marijuana vending machines in US 
 
Eleven US states allow medical marijuana on doctors' orders
Vending machines distributing the drug marijuana are to begin operating in the US state of California.
The machines can only be used by people who have been prescribed the drug for health reasons.

Patients will have to provide a prescription, and be fingerprinted and photographed before being allowed to use the facilities.

Eleven US states allow the medicinal use of marijuana, primarily for pain relief, but it remains controversial.

Vince Mehdizadeh, owner of the Herbal Nutrition Centre in Los Angeles, where one of the two first machines is based, said it would allow patients to buy extra supplies whenever needed.

Series of checks

Once the users have been photographed, fingerprinted and have shown their prescription, they will be issued with a card which can be used in the machines, he told KWTX News 10 in the US.

"They'll be greeted by a security guard right there. They'll slide the card in and they'll fingerprint in to verify that it's them," he was quoted by KWTX News 10 as saying.

"A camera takes a picture of them, verifying that they're actually at the machine. And they get the medicine and they move on."

The operators think that vending machines issuing prescription drugs could become a common sight in the US.

Proponents say marijauna is a valuable tool for relieving pain and stimulating appetite in the sick.

However, it remains banned by the 1970 Controlled Substances Act and the US federal government does not currently recognise any legitimate medical use.
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7212778.stm

The broadcast mass media failed to report on this massive fraud considering how much free advertising..errr, i mean free publicity they give to all these dangerous toxic drugs on the "news".

We can only wonder how much they are paid in back handers and special favours.

Lawyers acting in a lawsuit in which prescription drugs were involved made the discovery that the peer review authors could be traced back to Merck as being their employees!

Further investigation discovered that many outside "reviewers" had been mailed $10000 to $250000 cheques to allow their names to be pinned to "research" done by drug companies.

America the "land of the free" is just as corrupt as any other banana republic.

The U.K with some other countries including Australia slavishly follows ever American trend...

Maybe you should do some checking on your drug companies and their "research".

Conquest by a different name.