Why, Oh Why, Does Everyone BELIEVE Big Pharma’s Shtick?

By Catherine J. Frompovich

Up front, I raise and use 17 U.S. Code §107 Fair Use for news reporting and educating healthcare consumers in quoting excerpts from Dr Gotzsche’s book Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime.

The centerpiece of the US Organized Crime Control Act from 1870 is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Racketeering is the act of engaging in a certain type of offence more than once. The list of offenses that constitute racketeering include extortion, fraud, federal drug offences, bribery, embezzlement, obstruction of justice, obstruction of law enforcement, tampering with witnesses, and political corruption. Big pharma does so much of this all the time that there can be no doubt that its business model fulfils the criteria for organised [sic] crime. [1]

The above quote by Dr Peter C Gotzsche, MD, certainly is chilling, if not a wakeup call, for those who have “full faith and trust” in the allopathic paradigm of the healing arts and, especially, their chemicals known as prescription drugs, which are reimbursed financially (partially) by health insurance companies and providers, which has led to the “legal drug culture” in the USA, since many citizens take two or more Rx drugs daily [2]!

Dr Gotzsche is more than qualified to make such an assessment, as he’s a specialist in internal medicine and has worked in clinical trials and regulatory affairs in the drug industry. Furthermore, he co-founded the prestigious Cochrane Collaboration in 1993 and also The Nordic Cochrane Center that very same year. He’s been a professor of Clinical Research Design and Analysis at the University of Copenhagen. In addition, he’s published more than 50 papers in the BMJ, Lancet, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine, and New England Journal of Medicine. He’s also an editor at the Cochrane Methodology Review Group. Personally, I think no one would consider him a “tin hatter”!

What got him started on his medical career path? He worked for a while as a pharmaceutical company drug salesman in Sweden. So, he knows what goes on from that aspect of the “drug culture.”

While reading his exceptionally well-documented book, I could not help but make annotations, especially since he so effectively cites the fraud and criminal activities Big Pharma engages in repeatedly, only to receive a “slap on the wrist” monetary fine and then be allowed to continue on their financially-rewarding ways of harming and killing unsuspecting patients due to Pharma’s influences and monetary gifts to medical doctors. All that sad pharma ‘politics’ is very well-documented with “chapter and verse,” as they say. Here are some examples.

“In 2012, Pfizer agreed to pay $60 million to settle a US federal investigation into bribery over seas.” [1] Pg. 23

“Pushing drugs that people don’t need is a highly lucrative business, particularly when the drugs affect brain functions. Roche pushed Valium (diazepam) to become the top-selling drug in the world, although many indications for its use were highly doubtful and the wholesale price was 25 times the price of gold.” [1] Pg. 25

“The BMJ comes out weekly and most issues describe one or more scandals related to the drug industry in its News section or elsewhere.” [1] Pg. 25

“An amount of $1 billion was levied to resolve the allegations that Pfizer paid bribes and offered lavish hospitality to healthcare providers to encourage them to prescribe the four drugs, and six whistle-blowers would receive $102 million.” [1] Pg. 26

“Novartis agreed to pay $423 million in 2010. [….] The company unlawfully marketed Trileptal and five other drugs, causing false claims to be submitted to government healthcare programmes [sic]. [….] The whistle-blowers, all former employees of Novartis, would receive payment of more than $2.5 million, and Novartis signed a Corporate Integrity Agreement.” [1] Pg. 27

“GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3 billion in 2011. This is the largest healthcare fraud settlement in US history. GlaxoSmithKline pleaded guilty to having marketed a number of drugs illegally for off-label use, including Wellbutrin (bupropion, an antidepressant), Paxil (paroxetine, an antidepressant), Advair (fluticasone + salmeterol, an asthma drug), Avandia (rosiglitazone, a diabetes drug) and Lamictal (lamotrigine, an epilepsy drug). [….] The company paid kickbacks to doctors, …. [….] Avandia was withdrawn in Europe in 2010 because it increases cardiovascular deaths.” [1] Pg. 27

“AstraZeneca to pay $520 million in 2010 to settle fraud case. The charges were that AstraZeneca illegally marketed one of its best-selling drugs, the antipsychotic drug Seroquel (quetiapine), to children, the elderly, veterans and inmates for uses not approved by the FDA, including aggression, Alzheimer’s, anger management, anxiety, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dementia, depression, mood disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and sleeplessness.” [1] Pg. 28

“Roche convinces governments to stockpile Tamiflu. Roche has committed what to me [Dr Gotzsche] looks like the biggest theft in history, but no one has yet dragged the company to court. [….] Based on unpublished trials, Roche has claimed that Tamiflu reduces hospital admissions by 61%, secondary complications by 67%, and lower respiratory tract infections requiring antibiotics by 55%. Curiously, the company convinced the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the drug for prevention of influenza complications, and the agency’s summary of product characteristics stated that lower respiratory tract complications were reduced from 12.7% to 8.6% (P=0.001). [….] There is no convincing evidence that Tamiflu prevents influenza complications or reduces the spread of influenza to other people. However, Roche used ghostwriters, and one of the ghosts said: ‘The Tamiflu accounts had a list of key messages that you had to get in. It was run by the marketing department and you were answerable to them.’” [1] Pp. 28-29

“Johnson & Johnson fined more than $1.1 billion in 2012. A jury found that the company and its subsidiary Janssen had downplayed and hidden risks associated with its antipsychotic drug Risperdal (risperidone). The judge found nearly 240 000 violations under Arkansas’ Medicaid- fraud law.” [1] Pg. 30

“Merck to pay $670 million over Medicaid fraud in 2007. Merck had failed to pay the appropriate rebates to Medicaid and other government healthcare programmes [sic], and had also paid kickbacks to doctors and hospitals to induce them to prescribe various drugs.” [1] Pg. 31

“Eli Lilly to pay more than $1.4 billion for illegal marketing in 2009. Eli Lilly entered into a settlement with the Department of Justice concerning a wide-ranging, off-label marketing scheme for its top-selling antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa (olanzapine), with worldwide sales of nearly $40 billion between 1996 and 2009. [….] Lilly successfully marketed Zyprexa for numerous off-label uses including Alzheimer’s, depression and dementia, particularly in children and the elderly, although the harms of the drug are substantial, including heart failure, pneumonia, considerable weight gain and diabetes.” [1] Pg. 31

“Abbott to pay $1.5 billion for Medicaid fraud in 2012. Abbott settled allegations of Medicaid fraud for the company’s illegal marketing of the epilepsy drug Depakote (valproate); $84 million would be paid to the whistle-blowers. Abbott would pay $800 million in civil damages and penalties to compensate Medicaid, Medicare and various federal healthcare programmes [sic] for harm suffered as a result of its conduct.” [1] Pg. 32

Dr Gotzsche’s research indicates that Big Pharma corporate crime is common, “ruthlessly carried out” and repeatedly, with total disregard for deaths and other serious harmful adverse health effects! One has to wonder how the U.S. CDC and FDA, in particular, benefit from such crime. We don’t have to question that for very long, since the fines are very ‘healthy’, but where does that money go? That’s the million-dollar-question all healthcare consumers should be asking of Congress, since Big Pharma corporate crime and fines punishment are a constant in the pharmaceutical industry.

So, why does everyone trust Big Pharma’s advertisements in newspapers, magazines, on radio and TV and, especially, from your medical doctor, who contributes to the problem of disseminating fraud, including that perpetrated against Medicare and Medicaid?

Dr Gotzsche says, to answer my question above, “…although the criminal investigators recommended the FDA to examine whether Sanofi-Aventis had been involved in systematic fraud. The FDA didn’t follow the advice and it exerted internal pressures on its scientists to alter their conclusions in favor of the drug, which, as we shall see later, seems to be the standard practice at the FDA.” [1] Pg. 31

Personally and intellectually, I think I have to agree with Dr Gotzsche’s assessment when he says, “I think these people are drug pushers, just like street drug pushers … It is outrageous that these people pushed this drug [Purdue Pharma’s OxyContin (oxycondone)], addictive as they knew it was, onto the market and in effect damaged millions of innocent people.” [1] Pg. 36

But that’s not the only drugs that Big Pharma drug pushers push! Vaccines are the quintessential money-makers, and Pharma have no legal liability for damages caused by vaccines! That’s Congress’s fault and Congress needs to get on the ball to change that, as other countries in the world are taking Big Pharma to court and suing them for damaging innocent children and adults. Here are a few examples:

Gardasil Vaccine: Spain Joins Growing List of Countries to File Criminal Complaints
https://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2015/02/28/gardasil-vaccine-spain-joins-growing-list-of-countries-to-file-criminal-complaints/

Brain Damaged Victims Of Swine Flu Vaccine Win $63 Million Lawsuit [in the U.K.]
http://naturalsociety.com/brain-damaged-victims-of-swine-flu-vaccine-win-63-million-lawsuit/

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Vaccine Empire on Trial in India
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1170073

5 Families Sue Big Pharma in France for Vaccine Damages to Children
http://www.whale.to/a/5_families_sue_big_pharma.html

Recent Italian Court Decisions on Vaccines and Autism
http://www.ageofautism.com/2015/01/recent-italian-court-decisions-on-vaccines-and-autism.html

The above constitute a sampling of what’s going on outside the USA where there’s a media embargo on vaccine damage and how it’s handled in other countries that are not controlled by the U.S. FDA.

Dr Gotzsche’s book, Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime, How big pharma corrupted healthcare, is a treasure trove of what really goes on in the name of medical science: Crime in many instances from their science to their journals, and especially to Pharma’s marketing sales techniques and gifting to doctors and scientists, which is nothing short of “graft,” in my opinion.

According to the Free Legal Dictionary by Farlex,

Graft is the personal gain or advantage earned by an individual at the expense of others as a result of the exploitation of the singular status of, or an influential relationship with, another who has a position of public trust or confidence. The advantage or gain is accrued without any exchange of legitimate compensatory services. [3]

Shouldn’t healthcare consumers be asking if Big Pharma should be prosecuted for numerous crimes against humanity, plus violations of the Nuremberg Code and the U.S. RICO Act?

References:

[1] Gotzsche, Peter C. Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime, How big pharma has corrupted healthcare. London: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd., 2013; Pg. 38.
[2] http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/drug-use-therapeutic.htm
[3] http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/graft

Resources:

Braithwaite, John. Corporate Crime in the Pharmaceutical Industry. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul; 1984.
http://www.amazon.com/Corporate-Crime-Pharmaceutical-Industry-Braithwaite/dp/0710200498

Attorney Suggests Suing Government and Big Pharma Regarding Vaccinations
http://activistpost.com/2015/09/attorney-suggests-suing-government-and-big-pharma-regarding-vaccinations.html

Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies. Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.

Catherine’s latest book, published October 4, 2013, is Vaccination Voodoo, What YOU Don’t Know About Vaccines, available on Amazon.com.

Her 2012 book A Cancer Answer, Holistic BREAST Cancer Management, A Guide to Effective & Non-Toxic Treatments, is available on Amazon.com and as a Kindle eBook.

Two of Catherine’s more recent books on Amazon.com are Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into What’s Probably Making Us Sick (2009) and Lord, How Can I Make It Through Grieving My Loss, An Inspirational Guide Through the Grieving Process (2008)