Eli Lilly has settled another 900 Zyprexa cases weeks before going to trial. And Eli Lilly Paid for Survey whose findings say, Product litigation leads consumers to stop taking antipsychotics!
If antipsychotic drugs weren't killing people, a survey paid for by Eli Lilly would be just something to laugh about--
The headline reads: "New Survey Shows Product Liability Litigation May Jeopardize Treatment Outcomes For People With Severe Mental Illnesses"
Scrolling down a bit one learns, "This survey was conducted by independent market research company Ipsos- Insight and commissioned by the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare and Lilly. The survey was funded by Lilly."
If ever a "survey" was designed to promote its sponsor's maraketing ambitions --this is it! 402 psychiatrists who dutifully follow a paradigm of care promoted by the continuing medical education courses--Those courses are paid for and controlled by Big Pharma.
Under industry's influence psychiatrists seem to have lost the ability to think: they have not stopped even to consider how this pradigm of care is inducing disabling chronic diseases and shortening their patients's lives. That is a fact reported by a government sponsored survey of 8 state mental health statistics: Mortality rate among consumers of mental health services is 25 years younger than other U.S. citizens.
How can treating psychiatrists not notice that their patients are dying???
The 402 psychiatrists are merely reiterating Eli Lilly's latest spin aimed at diverting attention from the drug-induced carnage.
Here's the comment I posted on the MedicalNews website:
This is Eli Lilly propaganda.
It isn't the lawyers who scare mental health consumers. It's finding out what the serious, potentially lethal risks posed by Zyprexa and the other antipsychotics are.
When consumers stop using a product because they learn about its lethal defective features--whether it's a defective car or defective prescription drug--those consumers are making an informed decision and they should be commended.
New Survey Shows Product Liability Litigation May Jeopardize Treatment Outcomes For People With Severe Mental Illnesses Article Date: 14 Jun 2007
Survey results released today shed light on a new barrier to treatment affecting people with severe mental illness. The findings show fears raised by product liability litigation involving antipsychotic drugs may be putting patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder at risk for relapse. These fears add to the already heavy burden that patients face as they work to manage symptoms, stay on their medication and work with their treatment providers to improve their mental and physical health.
The survey, which was conducted among 402 psychiatrists who treat patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, showed that, even when patients were responding well to their prescribed antipsychotic treatment, many requested a medication change because these drugs are featured in law firm advertisements. Other patients stopped taking their medication, often without telling their psychiatrist, for the same reason.
"Many of our patients already struggle with accepting their illness and staying on their prescribed treatment, and now they are experiencing new levels of fear due to the increasing incidence of these jarring advertisements," said Dr. Ralph Aquila, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons; director, residential community services, St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York, NY. "This irresponsible advertising is hindering the progress of therapy for many of these patients and disrupting the important relationship between them and their healthcare providers. Plaintiffs attorneys need to consider the consequences that these advertisements may have on patients." See rest: [Link]
Survey results released today shed light on a new barrier to treatment affecting people with severe mental illness. The findings show fears raised by product liability litigation involving antipsychotic drugs may be putting patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder at risk for relapse. These fears add to the already heavy burden that patients face as they work to manage symptoms, stay on their medication and work with their treatment providers to improve their mental and physical health.
The survey, which was conducted among 402 psychiatrists who treat patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, showed that, even when patients were responding well to their prescribed antipsychotic treatment, many requested a medication change because these drugs are featured in law firm advertisements. Other patients stopped taking their medication, often without telling their psychiatrist, for the same reason.
"Many of our patients already struggle with accepting their illness and staying on their prescribed treatment, and now they are experiencing new levels of fear due to the increasing incidence of these jarring advertisements," said Dr. Ralph Aquila, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons; director, residential community services, St Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, New York, NY. "This irresponsible advertising is hindering the progress of therapy for many of these patients and disrupting the important relationship between them and their healthcare providers. Plaintiffs attorneys need to consider the consequences that these advertisements may have on patients." See rest: [Link]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Link] Associated Press
Eli Lilly: Drug Ads Influencing Patients
TOM MURPHY
(AP) - INDIANAPOLIS-Eli Lilly and Co., which has faced thousands of lawsuits over its anti-psychotic Zyprexa, says lawyers' ads about the drug are prompting some patients to stop taking mental illness medications when they shouldn't.
The advertising blitz "presents yet another barrier for patients who suffer from severe mental illness" and increases the risks that people will not get the care they need, said Carole Puls, a spokeswoman for the Indianapolis-based drug maker.
Lilly on Wednesday released the results of a company-funded survey that asked 402 psychiatrists who treat patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia to complete an online questionnaire. More than half of the participating psychiatrists said they believed their patients who stopped medication or reduced the dosage did so after seeing lawyers' advertisements about anti-psychotic drugs.
Lilly has faced thousands of lawsuits over Zyprexa, which treats schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and generated $4.4 billion in sales last year. Most claims center on allegations that Zyprexa causes diabetes or high blood sugar and that labels on the drug failed to adequately warn users of the risks.
The drug maker has spent about $1.2 billion to settle roughly 28,000 Zyprexa claims since 2005. Lilly said Tuesday it had settled an additional 900 claims but did not disclose a settlement amount.
The company still faces product liability lawsuits from roughly 750 patients.
Some of the lawyers' ads highlight the drug's side effects, while others note the amount Lilly has spent to settle lawsuits.
The commercials have an "ambulance-chasing feel to them," said Linda Rosenberg, president and chief executive of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, which represents 1,300 behavioral healthcare organizations and helped design the survey. "All we're concerned about is getting patients talking to their doctors and not getting immediately frightened by an ad," she said.
Reports about the dangerous side effects of certain drugs often don't address what happens when people stop taking them, said Dr. Nada Stotland, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. She was not involved in the Lilly study.
Stotland said suicides rose and the number of people taking a group of common antidepressants fell a few years ago after the media reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandated severe "black box" warnings for the drugs. "You can't prove a cause-and-effect, but you can draw a pretty good hypothesis that there's a relationship between suicides going up and people not being treated for depression," she said.
Attorney William Berg said his firm includes a disclaimer with each Zyprexa ad. "In all of our ads, we tell folks, 'Do not stop taking any medication without consulting your doctor,'" he said. Berg Injury Lawyers, based in Alameda, Calif., has represented more than 100 patients in lawsuits against Lilly. Berg said he runs the ads to let people know about their right to compensation if they experienced side effects that were not properly disclosed. "If we advertising lawyers don't tell people about their legal rights, who will? Eli Lilly sure isn't going to," he said.
Allen Rothenberg, a Philadelphia attorney whose firm also represents Zyprexa patients, said Lilly withheld information from patients and doctors about the drug."What we do is we even the playing field for the individuals, for the people," he said.
Puls said Lilly has made doctors aware of Zyprexa's side effects since the drug debuted in 1996.
"Doctors have been kept fully aware of risks associated with Zyprexa, and we think they're the best ones to determine appropriate treatment, not plaintiffs' attorneys," she said. [Blog Comment: Indeed. Fully aware.]
Lilly shares fell 53 cents to $56.78 Tuesday.
Eli Lilly: Drug Ads Influencing Patients
TOM MURPHY
(AP) - INDIANAPOLIS-Eli Lilly and Co., which has faced thousands of lawsuits over its anti-psychotic Zyprexa, says lawyers' ads about the drug are prompting some patients to stop taking mental illness medications when they shouldn't.
The advertising blitz "presents yet another barrier for patients who suffer from severe mental illness" and increases the risks that people will not get the care they need, said Carole Puls, a spokeswoman for the Indianapolis-based drug maker.
Lilly on Wednesday released the results of a company-funded survey that asked 402 psychiatrists who treat patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia to complete an online questionnaire. More than half of the participating psychiatrists said they believed their patients who stopped medication or reduced the dosage did so after seeing lawyers' advertisements about anti-psychotic drugs.
Lilly has faced thousands of lawsuits over Zyprexa, which treats schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and generated $4.4 billion in sales last year. Most claims center on allegations that Zyprexa causes diabetes or high blood sugar and that labels on the drug failed to adequately warn users of the risks.
The drug maker has spent about $1.2 billion to settle roughly 28,000 Zyprexa claims since 2005. Lilly said Tuesday it had settled an additional 900 claims but did not disclose a settlement amount.
The company still faces product liability lawsuits from roughly 750 patients.
Some of the lawyers' ads highlight the drug's side effects, while others note the amount Lilly has spent to settle lawsuits.
The commercials have an "ambulance-chasing feel to them," said Linda Rosenberg, president and chief executive of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, which represents 1,300 behavioral healthcare organizations and helped design the survey. "All we're concerned about is getting patients talking to their doctors and not getting immediately frightened by an ad," she said.
Reports about the dangerous side effects of certain drugs often don't address what happens when people stop taking them, said Dr. Nada Stotland, president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. She was not involved in the Lilly study.
Stotland said suicides rose and the number of people taking a group of common antidepressants fell a few years ago after the media reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration mandated severe "black box" warnings for the drugs. "You can't prove a cause-and-effect, but you can draw a pretty good hypothesis that there's a relationship between suicides going up and people not being treated for depression," she said.
Attorney William Berg said his firm includes a disclaimer with each Zyprexa ad. "In all of our ads, we tell folks, 'Do not stop taking any medication without consulting your doctor,'" he said. Berg Injury Lawyers, based in Alameda, Calif., has represented more than 100 patients in lawsuits against Lilly. Berg said he runs the ads to let people know about their right to compensation if they experienced side effects that were not properly disclosed. "If we advertising lawyers don't tell people about their legal rights, who will? Eli Lilly sure isn't going to," he said.
Allen Rothenberg, a Philadelphia attorney whose firm also represents Zyprexa patients, said Lilly withheld information from patients and doctors about the drug."What we do is we even the playing field for the individuals, for the people," he said.
Puls said Lilly has made doctors aware of Zyprexa's side effects since the drug debuted in 1996.
"Doctors have been kept fully aware of risks associated with Zyprexa, and we think they're the best ones to determine appropriate treatment, not plaintiffs' attorneys," she said. [Blog Comment: Indeed. Fully aware.]
Lilly shares fell 53 cents to $56.78 Tuesday.