Letter to Editor, Chicago Tribune, "Effective and appropriate treatment", says Tony Jewell, AstraZeneca, Seroquel

November 16, 2009

Opinion, Chicago Tribune

Effective and appropriate treatment

"In a series of recent articles, the Tribune incompletely characterizes the benefits and risks associated with Seroquel, a medicine that has been on the market for more than a decade and has been prescribed to millions of patients in the United States.

Since first approved in 1997 for the treatment of schizophrenia, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Seroquel as safe and effective for three indications in bipolar disorder, as well as in a new formulation for additional treatments in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Today Seroquel and Seroquel XR are the only medicines approved as monotherapy by the FDA to treat both the acute depressive and manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.

The safety and efficacy of Seroquel has been evaluated in clinical trials with thousands of patients and AstraZeneca has shared all required data with the FDA, both before and after the agency approved it as safe and effective.AstraZeneca believes the totality of the science around Seroquel -- including company-sponsored studies, research sponsored by the federal government and physician experience -- confirms it is an effective and appropriate treatment choice for many patients who suffer from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.The company has worked diligently with the FDA to ensure that the safety profile of Seroquel is reflected appropriately in the prescribing information so that health care professionals can weigh the risk and benefit of medicines when making treatment decisions.More information on Seroquel can be found at http://www.seroquelfacts.com/."


-- Tony Jewell, senior director, Corporate Communications, AstraZeneca,
Wilmington, Del.
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Doctor-drugmaker ties: Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Reinstein received nearly $500,000 from antipsychotic drug's manufacturer-Chicago Tribune-November 11, 2009:

"If he is in fact worth half a billion dollars to (AstraZeneca)," the company's U.S. sales chief wrote in 2001, "we need to put him in a different category." To avoid scaring Reinstein away, he said, the firm should answer "his every query and satisfy any of his quirky behaviors."

Putting aside its concerns, AstraZeneca would continue its relationship with Reinstein, paying him $490,000 over a decade to travel the nation promoting its best-selling antipsychotic drug, Seroquel. In return, Reinstein provided the company a vast customer base: thousands of mentally ill residents in Chicago-area nursing homes." --Chicago Tribune
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Tony Jewell appears to be writing a public relations page for the AstraZeneca site, completely ignoring the facts that AstraZeneca/Seroquel is in litigation for the injury and harm done to patients via diabetes and weight gain, off-label use and marketing the drug with knowledge of those side effects prior.

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In another Letter to the Editor, February 2009, Tony Jewell again, defends AstraZeneca as a result of a news story that ran in The St.Petersburg Times:

Letter to Editor

Drugmaker AstraZeneca shares required data

In Print: Tuesday, February 17, 2009

"The St. Petersburg Times' story on legal proceedings related to Seroquel did not include relevant information about the medicine and litigation provided to the newspaper by AstraZeneca.

The story, echoing attorneys for the plaintiffs and selectively quoting from AstraZeneca's court filings, fails to note that the company has studied Seroquel extensively and shared all appropriate and required data with the Food and Drug Administration, both before and after the agency approved the drug as safe and effective."

Finally and most important, Seroquel has helped and continues to help millions of people suffering from debilitating mental illnesses, and has allowed many to lead more productive lives."

Tony Jewell, senior director, AstraZeneca, Wilmington, Del.

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Seroquel maker wants to seal info from you, "for" you-By Kris Hundley, Times Staff Writer, In Print: Sunday, February 15, 2009 -St.Petersburg Times

"AstraZeneca, maker of the blockbuster anti­psychotic Seroquel, is battling to keep information about the drug out of the public's view … for the public's own good.

This month in Orlando, lawyers for the drugmaker will argue that unsealing company documents, including unpublished clinical trial data and letters from the FDA, could harm "a vulnerable patient population."

"This (disclosure) could jeopardize public safety by causing confusion and alarm in patients, who may then discontinue their medication without seeking the guidance of a medical professional,'' lawyers for the drugmaker said in a recent filing in federal court."-St.Petersburg Times

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Further reading

Furious Seasons blog,February 18, 2009,Bloomberg Fights AstraZeneca's Attempt To Hide Seroquel Documents (which includes the link to the Editorial below)

Times Editorial, February 2009 (in part)

Patients deserve facts about drug--In Print: Tuesday, February 17, 2009

"Pharmaceutical companies spend millions each year to market drugs to doctors and potential patients. That makes it all the more outrageous that AstraZeneca is asking an Orlando court to keep information about the performance of its lucrative antipsychotic drug Seroquel secret." -Times Letter
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The public deserves the truth, and the FDA should be held accountable for approving this drug, frankly it should be pulled from the market in my opinion.

*Thanks to the reader who informed me of the recent Letter in the Chicago Tribune.