October 2010

Google is famous for its motto of “Don’t be evil.”  I’m beginning to wonder if GSK has adopted a motto of “Be evil.”  In addition to selling Paxil without adequately warning women that it causes birth defects, GSK also knowingly sold Paxil that it knew wouldn’t do anything to help patients:

In one of the

Pharmaceutical companies use cheesy marketing gimmicks to help train their sales people.  Rhymes and limericks are perennial favorites.

Someone sent me a few of the ones used for Ortho Evra.  Get a load of these:

The patch contains hormones you knew;
E
E and NGMN are impregnated in glue.
It blocks eggs from a poppin;

If you use a 25 mcg/hour fentanyl patch, you’ll want to check to see if it’s on this Actavis recall:

Actavis identified one lot of 25 mcg/hour Fentanyl patch (Control/Lot # 30349) shipped to market that contained one patch that released its active ingredient faster than the approved specification in laboratory testing. An accelerated release

 If you're taking one of these, consult with your doctor before you decide to stop taking the drug. 

Food and Drug Administration officials said all bisphosphonates used for osteoporosis will carry a new warning about rare but serious fractures of the thigh bone, even though it remains unclear if the medicines caused the fractures.

Source: FDA warns

This is promising:

Drugmaker executives whose companies promote unauthorized uses of their medicines may be targeted by U.S. regulators for misdemeanor prosecutions, Food and Drug Administration Deputy Chief for Litigation Eric Blumberg said.

* * * *

‘“It’s clear we’re not getting the job done with large, monetary settlements,” Blumberg said. “Unless the government shows

That sounds crazy, I know.  But here’s my logic.

The vast majority of pharmaceutical lawsuits are brought under what’s called a failure to warn theory of liability.  Failure-to-warn lawsuits allege that a manufacturer of a drug didn’t accurately inform a plaintiff about the risks associated with taking a specific drug.  If the manufacturer does give