Psychiatry and Pharmaceutical Companies Targeting Grandma

This is a report from CNN of all networks. This is a surprise since broadcast firms rely so much on pharmaceutical advertising that they almost never report on their crimes.
This report does involves Nuedexta, which is approved for patients with uncontrollable laughing or crying which is known as pseudobulbar affect, or PBA. It is a condition that only affects 1% of the population. The drug had been initially targeted for people with multiple sclerosis and ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
CNN in their report indicated a California psychiatrist Romeo Isidro had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in promotional payments from Avanir the maker of Neudexta. Apparently 50% of Nuedexta’s sales have gone to dementia patients and patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Sales have since jumped 400% and made $300 million in 2016.
According to the pharma company Avanir, they say 40% of people with dementia are afflicted with PBA, but this has been disputed by many experts. The actual test that produced the 40% afflicted rate was funded by the drug producer Avanir. We smell a rat do you?
The rat has a keeper and that keeper has no gate. It is the FDA. Nuedexta is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat anyone with PBA. This entitles Avanir to include those with neurological conditions like dementia. Yet most responsible geriatric physicians say PBA affects less than 5% of all patients with dementia.

In CNN’s report a Los Angeles nursing home last year, regulators found that more than a quarter of its residents 46 of 162 had been placed on Nuedexta, noting that a facility psychiatrist had given a talk about the drug to employees. This psychiatrist was a paid speaker fee from Avanir. End CNN’s report

Do you see the direct correlation between drug companies and psychiatrists? It’s all about money and nothing about patient care. Pharma funds a front research group to get the result they want. The FDA is run by psychiatrists, so they approve those research reports, and people die.

If you’re elder parents or grandparents are in a long term care facility. You need to stand up to their caregiver. Your parent stood up for you on the playground. Fight the insanity by getting involved in your elderly parents last years.

Martin Shkreli Pharma CEO Arrested on Securities Fraud

Martin Shkreli became infamous raising the price of a life-saving pill by 4,000 percent, has been recently arrested on charges of security fraud, according to news reports. Last year he raised the price of Daraprim which is a drug used to treat toxoplasmosis. It is an issue for newborns newborns and HIV patients and the price went from $1,130 to $63,000.
Shkreli is a symbol of Wall Street greed, but also of Big Pharma fraud. He was arrested on securities fraud, but he is an example of the pricing fraud and the penchant for Big Pharma to evade taxes by being bought by smaller overseas pharmaceutical companies. Big Pharma companies make drugs that don’t work at all, or they have side effects of suicide or mania (campus and mall mass murders). Big Pharma is ripe with fraud. We have posted where pharmaceutical companies are being fined for marketing drugs for uses they have not been approved for.

Critics have labeled Shkreli a "putz," a "psychopath" and "Big Pharma's Biggest A--." The Chicago Tribune reported that Congress called him out on it. Hillary Clinton tore into Shkreli. Bernie Sanders rejected a donation from America's most unpopular businessman. Even Donald Trump called Shkreli a "spoiled brat."

The Tribune further reported Shkreli did not do his reputation any favors by calling a journalist a "moron," quoting defiant rap lyrics on Twitter and defending the price-hike as a "great business decision." "Our shareholders expect us to make as much as money as possible," he said during a health industry summit earlier this month, dressed nonchalantly in a hooded sweatshirt and sneakers. "That's the ugly, dirty truth." He also promised to lower the price of Daraprim but reportedly never did.

The price of Daraprim has not gone down. The end result of all this is that pharmaceutical companies can not be trusted. They are full of creeps, criminals, and unapologetic killers. They produce drugs that will kill you. Politicians only speak out against these issues when they are running for office or if a gun was used while a young adult blasts his school mates on campus. Many of these pharmaceutical companies are advised by psychiatrist drug pushers. The entire pharmaceutical industry just stinks with fraud, crime, and it is directly connected to death.

As the saying goes the certainties in life are birth, death and taxes. Another certainty is pharma death and fraud.

Merck to Pay $950 Million in Settlement Over Vioxx Health Care Fraud

Vioxx is not an antidepressant, but we wanted to continue to enlighten readers of the unethical actions of Pharmaceutical Companies. Merck will pay $950 million and was forced to plead guilty to a criminal misdemeanor in their illegal promotion of Vioxx and their deception of the government and consumers. This court action is part fine ($320 million) and in part to settle civil penalties ($630 million). This came about from a 2004 study showed that Vioxx increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Vioxx was initially approved as a pain killer in 1999. This ruling is based on Merck promoting via marketing and pharmaceutical representatives unauthorized “off label” marketing. According to the Wall Street Journal a Merck spokesman Ronald Rogers indicated that some sales representatives promoted Vioxx as a treatment to rheumatoid arthritis before FDA approval. The government indicated that its representatives didn’t inform medical practitioners regarding Vioxx’s issue with cardiovascular safety.

Other pharmaceutical companies have recently been fined for misrepresentations such as GlaxoSmithKline $3 billion settlement for improper drug marketing. Dey Inc. Dey Pharma L.P. agreed to pay $280 million to settle False Claims Act allegations. The Justice department indicated that the Dey Pharma inflated government payments when they charge the Medicare and Medicaid a higher amount over actual price paid by health care providers. That discovery was related by Ven-A-Care. Elli-Lilly, Pfizer, and AstraZeneca have also been fined heavily in the past few years.

Pharmaceutical companies have shown a pattern in promoting their products for other reasons then FDA approval. This misrepresentation and unethical behavior must be from top management to the sale representatives. Why would a sale rep inform medical practitioners of the uses of drugs unless they were told to indicate so by management? This also brings up another issue as doctors are allowed to prescribe drugs for “off label” uses. Shouldn’t a drug be only allowed to be used for the reason it was approved by all involved in the drugs distribution? It looks like a Congressional law is needed here.

Pharmaceutical Companies and the FDA Fraudulently Conducting Clinical Trials

The FDA attacks homeopathic treatments as they push for scientific evidence of these natural ingredient remedies. Yet BigPharma and the FDA are fraught with fraud in their own “scientific studies” which are far from using science. It is more payoffs to academic researchers and choreographed drugs trials versus placebo results.

Firstly, Bigpharma endows Universities to perform their “independent studies”, yet they pay enormous amounts of grants to complete these so called “independent” studies. Most would call that unethical. Pay a University to do a study, and if they came up with bad results would BigPharma use that University again? We think not.
That is outright fraud and coercion, and totally allowed by the FDA. Drugging a population keeps the population dumped down. It is a classic government conspiracy.

Clearly, these clinical trials are rife with fraud. Most of the clinical trials used by Pharmaceutical Companies to win FDA approval are funded by pharmaceutical Companies. It has been verified that most clinical trials tend to find results that favor the financial interests of whatever organization paid for them.

Secondly, these trials are typically preformed with pharma’s drugs versus a placebo. Yet, placebos are provided by the same company that funded the clinical trial. This provides the perfect scheme to supply the weakest placebo versus pharma’s drug. Can you see the clear room for unethical behavior and outright fraud? In our opinion when large amounts of money is involved then fraud is not far behind.

Thirdly, there are no standards for placebos as recently reported by Mike Adams of Natural News. A placebo is the “sugar pill” but could the trial use real sugar versus a diabetic drug in a trial. Yes they can, since there are no regulations on which type of sugar pill to use. The diabetes drug would clearly win against a real sugar pill. But, these trials don’t always use sugar in other cases they use olive oil which may actually improve heart health in a trial versus a cholesterol drug. Other placebo pills could use partially-hydrogenated oils which harm a hearts health. Yet less than 10 percent of the clinical trials list the placebo ingredients at all, Natural News reports. That doesn’t sound like scientific detail to us. Wouldn’t a pharmaceutical company want to boast if their trial drug beat olive oil in a head to head test? Or are they hiding something?

Natural News article also indicated that placebo performance strongly influences whether drugs are approved by the FDA. As the key piece of information on its regulatory approval decisions, the FDA wants to know whether a drug works better than placebo. That's the primary requirement. If they work even 5% better than a placebo, they are said to be "efficacious" (meaning they "work"). This is true even if the placebo was selected and used specifically to make the drug look good by comparison. As Natural News states, if there are no regulations or rules regarding the placebo, then none of the placebo controlled clinical trials are scientifically valid.

Yet homeopathic remedies have more stringent requirements for scientific evidence. Can you believe the irony here? The FDA in essence pushes away natural remedies, and embraces pharmaceutical drugs. Is the FDA really protecting you?

Contact your Congressional representative today and demand that these pharmaceutical companies at the least disclose which placebo they used in a test. Would you race a Porsche against a Pinto? Clearly that is not a true comparison, so the consumer should know how a drug preformed against a natural alternative. Go to stoprx.org site to contact Congress to address this blatantly obvious issue that the FDA should have a remedied already. Please feel free to also donate, so we can continue to keep you informed.

Almost $Billion Fine in DOJ GlaxoSmithKline Fraud Case, Whistle Blower Gets $96 Million

Bloomberg News By Justin Blum, David Voreacos and Andrew Harris Oct 26,2010
This is the complete Bloomberg article
GlaxoSmithKline Plc agreed to pay $750 million to settle a U.S. government false-claims lawsuit over the sale of defective drugs.

Glaxo, the U.K.’s largest drugmaker, and the U.S. Justice Department announced the accord today, resolving a lawsuit first filed in 2004 by Cheryl D. Eckard, a former global quality assurance manager for the London-based company.

“This is not something I wanted to do, but because of patient safety it was necessary,” Eckard, 51, told reporters following a Justice Department press conference in Boston. As a whistleblower, she will receive $96 million from the settlement money.

Glaxo was accused in court papers of selling tainted drugs under false pretenses. The medicines, made at a Glaxo plant in Cidra, Puerto Rico, were misidentified as a result of product mix-ups, according to papers filed in federal court in Boston. The affected drugs included the antidepressant Paxil CR and the diabetes treatment Avandamet.

The settlement includes a criminal fine and forfeiture totaling $150 million and a $600 million civil settlement under the False Claims Act and related state claims, the Justice Department said in a statement.

“We will not tolerate corporate attempts to profit at the expense of the ill and needy in our society -- or those who cut corners that result in potentially dangerous consequences to consumers,” Carmen M. Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney in Boston, said at today’s news conference.

Guilty Plea

SB Pharmco Puerto Rico Inc., a Glaxo unit, agreed to plead guilty to charges relating to the manufacture and distribution of adulterated drugs made at the now-shuttered plant, the Justice Department said. Glaxo said in July it had agreed in principle with the U.S. to pay 500 million pounds ($791 million) to resolve the investigation.

“We regret that we operated the Cidra facility in a manner that was inconsistent with current Good Manufacturing Practice requirements and with GSK’s commitment to manufacturing quality,” PD Villarreal, a Glaxo senior vice president, said in an e-mailed statement.

Eckard’s take is the largest ever for a single whistleblower, said Patrick Burns, spokesman for Taxpayers Against Fraud, a nonprofit Washington group that publicizes the use of legal means to combat fraud against the U.S. The federal government will receive $436.4 million from the settlement and participating states will split as much as $163.6 million, the Justice Department said.

‘Serious Deficiencies’

Other drugs made at the plant include Kytril, an anti- nausea medication, and Bactroban, an ointment used to treat skin infections, the Justice Department said.

“The false claims arose out of chronic, serious deficiencies in the quality assurance function at the Cidra plant and the defendants’ ongoing serious violations of the laws and regulations designed to ensure the fitness of drug products for use,” the government said in court papers.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2005 seized some Paxil CR lots after it was discovered that the pills sometimes split inappropriately, according to court papers. Some of the pills lacked an active ingredient.

“We did not uncover any evidence that patients were harmed from these adulterated batches,” Ortiz said today. “It is critical we keep pressure on companies to follow FDA standards and play by the rules.”

Eckard’s complaint was joined by the states of California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, Chicago and New York City.

The case is U.S. v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 04-10375, U.S. District Court for Massachusetts (Boston)

To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Blum in Washington at jblum4@bloomberg.net; Andrew M. Harris in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net; David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net.

Why Have Antidepressants Been the Drug Pushed the Last 50 years even Though They are Ineffective?

In more rural areas access to doctors and thankfully lack of access to psychiatry is more difficult then in larger urban cities. So the opportunity to mass market drugs allows general practitioners in these remote areas to distribute antidepressants for the monetary benefit of pharmaceutical companies. It is far easier and cost effective to push a drug then to tend to a persons needs one on one. The normal medical doctor becomes the drug pusher, since he is not equipped to be a therapist. Hence, mass marketing of an ineffective drug like an antidepressant passes the responsibility to the MD and away from the manufacturer. It all comes down to money and marketing.

Pharmaceutical Companies simply use television, magazines and a willing media to promote drugs that do not work. This is one more reason why our health system fails, when antidepressants that are less effective than a tic tac (placebo) are pushed everywhere. It is also another validation of psychiatric fraud where their origins have been straitjackets and electric shock treatment. Clearly everyone understands that their archaic technology doesn’t work, so it should be easy to understand why antidepressants don’t work either. Their techniques historically are barbaric and fraudulent. The scam that is psychiatry has been proven to make up disorders and syndromes so they can attach a drug to it. Antidepressants are used for Bipolar disorder, smoking cessation, ADHD and you can almost name the malady and psychiatry and Pharma will create a drug for it. It is also clear in their advertising that pharmaceutical companies state that they don’t know what causes depression, but their drug apparently addresses a chemical imbalance. There own advertising tells you the answer which you need to know. How does a company get away with promoting a drug which they know doesn’t work, and they don't know what causes depression. So why would you promote that a non-working drug is the solution? They don't even know if it is a lack of seratonin or too much seratonin or seratonin at all. It really is insane that they have gotten away with this for so long. Well the FDA is part of this scam, since a number of psychiatrists and pharmaceutical executives have also been FDA executives. Hmm, seems like a glaring conflict of interest there. You have to ask the question why has this fraud gone on for decades without being exposed for what it is. Well too many groups and organizations have too much to money to lose. So hence we have doctors, the government, and the media all in on the fraud then it is simply up to the individual to deduce the unworkability of psychiatry and drug therapy (narcotherapy). The information is out there you just have to look for it.

What are the alternatives to the western pills solution? The east has long used herbal remedies as a viable alternative. St. John’s Wort, (Kava Kava) can be used for people suffering from anxiety and depression, Noni which is often called Morinda, and Schisandra are also well used natural antidepressants. Ginkgo Biloba has also been recommended for older people undergoing medical treatment since it helps to regulate blood pressure. Many have also found Lemon Balm used for digestive disorders which can be connected to depression and stress. Rhodiola has been found to improve mood and combat depressive disorders by normalizing serotonin and dopamine levels. Psychiatric drugs clearly do not work, and we urge all undergoing depression to seek the alternatives like these herbal remedies. Don’t continue the fraud and pay for something that doesn’t work.

Possible Fraud by Pharmaceutical Companies as Placebo Confirmed as more Effective and Safer than Antidepressants

A recently article reported in Newsweek Magazine, of a study by (The Journal of the American Medical Association) and other studies have shown that the effectiveness of antidepressants is almost entirely due to the hope and aspirations that the drug will be effective and not the drug at all. Hence, a placebo is more effective than antidepressants, and there are no side effects from placebos. The side effects from antidepressants alone can kill you. According to the FDA the use of antidepressants can cause anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, impulsivity, akathisia (severe restlessness), hypomania, mania and suicide. They have also been attributed to mass murder (Columbine, Virginia Tech) to list a couple. Newsweek reports regarding a study by Irving Kirsch and Guy Sapirstein of the University of Connecticut. Patients on a placebo improved about 75 percent as much as those on the drugs. Essentially you positive mind will cure your depression.

Many may ask how is it possible that these drugs could get approved by the FDA for decades if they are proven to be ineffective. Well the early failed results appear to have been suppressed. Thomas Moore of George Washington University used the freedom of information act to analyze the FDA earlier studies of antidepressants. There were numerous company sponsored studies by the makers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Effexor and others. Many of these studies were unpublished, and over 50% more unpublished studies than other classes of drugs. Apparently 40% of the all clinical trials had never been published, and most of those unpublished trials according to Newsweek's article were the trials that proved antidepressants were a failure. The damaging results indicate pharmaceutical companies may be fraudulent in their studies and disclosures, and we ask why companies are allowed to sponsor trials. In addition, the FDA appears to have allowed it. Who is watching the store? Why wouldn’t the government at minimum only allow independent studies? But even that could be problem. Scientists at Universities who have questioned antidepressant results and who have cited Irvin Kirsch’s results have been reprimanded and their future grants have been threatened. These University grants are typically funded by large pharmaceutical companies. Looks like for our own safety we need to find another independent study group, and perhaps the Department of Justice can look into the FDA and pharmaceutical studies for authenticity.

Newsweek’s article also points out the relationship of the chemical imbalance theory causing depression. Pharmaceutical companies have claimed for decades that this chemical imbalance is the cause of depression. The typical SSRI (serotonin reuptake inhibitor) is supposed to raise the serotonin level of the patient. This is the basis of all their research. Well a new drug study indicates that lowering serotonin is as effective as raising serotonin on depression. The new drug tianeptine made in France lowers serotonin. Now the American and UK pharmaceutical companies’ main argument is gone, but they never really had an argument. In actuality, there is no scientific evidence at all that demonstrates antidepressants alleviate depression. The hope and expectation that a pill “sugar pill” will be effective recently has shown to alleviate depression.

When Bristol Myers Squibb’s advertises Abilify as an add-on to one’s current antidepressant because of it’s ineffectiveness on depression, it is an indication from the industry that their products have failed. In addition, many of these drugs are marketed for Bi-Polar Disorder, ADHD, and even non-smoking. ADHD has also been found to be fraudulent (see the book ADHDFraud by Fred Baughman Jr.). Will it be found that antidepressants are ineffective with these maladies also? There is certain to be more investigation into these past unpublished results, and we hope the justice department will look into fraud and misrepresentation. Like the Real Estate bubble the pharmaceutical house of cards is coming down, and we are sure there are many lawsuits to come with this disturbing information.

A New Study Shows Antidepressant Drugs Are Only as Effective as a Placebo

Antidepressants may only provide relief in extreme cases a recent study indicates, and they are no more effective for most patients than placebo pills according to a new study released this week by New York Times reporter Benedict Carey. Prior studies have painted a conflicting picture, since most studies have been pharmaceutical industry supported which have found the drugs reduced depression symptoms. A number of unpublished or buried studies show that antidepressants show no significant benefits over a placebo. This recent study also evaluated people who were considered to be more moderately depressed. The conflict in results with industry supported studies and unpublished studies may also indicate pharmaceutical industry tampering with the results from prior studies. Since these buried studies show antidepressants have no more effectiveness then a placebo then industry trial studies could be viewed as fraudulent.
The recent study was performed with government grants by a team of researchers, and psychologists. These psychologists also consult widely with drug makers. Media reports that the researchers were from the University of Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Colorado and Vanderbilt Universities. The group evaluated six large drug trials, including 728 men and women, about half of them with severe depression and half with more moderate symptoms. Three of the trials were of the SSRI Paxil by GlaxoSmithKline, and the other three were of imipramine a generic tricyclic classed drug. The researchers indicate that similar SSRI drugs like Prozac, and Lexapro would show similar results.
All the advertising in the world can’t beat a real study of a drug’s effectiveness. It is also possible that the prior studies were rigged to show antidepressants were effective. If this is the case then that is criminally fraudulent by pharmaceutical industry supported researchers and drug companies. These prior trials need to be investigated by State Attorney Generals for integrity and authenticity. There also needs to be more independent studies and no industry supported studies. There is clearly a conflict of interest with industry sponsored studies. Patients need to look at the many alternatives to antidepressants and we can add a placebo as a new alternative.