J&J, Johnson and Johnson, makers of Risperdal, antipsychotic ordered to pay $327,073,700.00 Million dollars for deceptive marketing of Risperdal.
Risperdal sales from 1994-2010 $28.90 Billion dollars.
Word of the day
de·test·able adj \di-ˈtes-tə-bəl, dē-\
1.Stimulating disgust or detestation; offensive; shocking.
Usage notes
Nouns to which "detestable" is often applied: crime, thing, practices, act, character, nature, person, conduct, villain, behavior.
VIA PHARMALOT:
"In explaining his decision to penalize Johnson & Johnson a healthy $327 million for deceptive marketing of its Risperdal antipsychotic, South Carolina Circuit Court Judge Roger Crouch late last week made a point of reciting a part of the famed credo that is religiously repeated by execs at the health care giant: “We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services. In meeting their needs, everything we do must be of high quality.”
Why? He wanted to contrast the credo with actions taken by the Johnson & Johnson team. To set the stage for his remarks, Crouch offered this: “It it is the loss of the company’s focus, upon the primary objective of its credo, which brings us to this discussion." --Pharmalot
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The 17 page pdf Johnson and Johnson Pentalty Order- by Judge Couch-via Pharmalot.
In the penalty order
The Judge quotes a Philosophy magazine article that discusses "lying" and used it in his analysis of the case, where he uses this excerpt:
"Lying has nothing to do with truth and falsity. It is simply not true that the definition of lying is stating a falsehood. Lying seems instead to be a relation between a belief and an intention. If you utter what you believe to be false (regardless of whether it is false) for the purpose of inducing another to believe that it is true, you have lied."
The Judge discusses hidden study results
ERI and Study 113
"THE DEFENDENTS CONDUCTED AND PARTICIPATED IN STUDIES SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO SHED LIGHT ON THE POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF THE DRUG. Specifically, these studies included RIS USA-113 & 275 and ERI. In the case of ERI and Study 113, the results indicated A SUBSTANTIAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE USE OF THIS DRUG AND WEIGHT GAIN AND DIABETES.RATHER THAN MAKING THE INFORMATION GATHERED IN THESE STUDIES AVAILABLE TO THE MEDICAL, REGULATORY AND SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITIES, THE DEFENDENTS CHOSE TO USE PRETENSES TO KEEP THEM HIDDEN."
The company characterized the results as flawed and hid the results until 2009. According to the Judge's remarks those results were not made public until Risperdal went off patent.
Could this be what we are waiting to see happen with the buried data from AstraZeneca regarding weight gain and diabetes from the use of Seroquel? The internal documents have been made public regarding Seroquel and the courts still dismiss cases of diabetes citing lack of causal proof and connection to the use and the drug by patients who have been injured by way of weight gain and diabetes after taking Seroquel.
Could Judge Couch be setting the stage for AstraZeneca to follow? Will there ever be justice for the victims of Lilly's Zyprexa? and AstraZeneca's Seroquel? or will the silence remain, and the pharmaceutical companies continue to reap the benefits of lying, and scandalous behaviors that the Judge called "detestable" regarding Johnson and Johnson's business practices?
THE JUDGE COMMENTS ON INFORMED CONSENT, PATIENTS RIGHTS
"I do note that courts in this State have consistently upheld that medical patients have the right to make informed decisions concerning their treatment.It is elementary that the right to make informed treatment decisions would extend to, and include, the right of a patient to have made available to them, full and complete disclosures of the critical information in the package insert,in the label published, on the Physician's Desk Reference or on the company's website. This need for full and complete disclosure of all available information is especially critical where the majority of patients treated with this drug suffer from conditions which diminish their ability to make such critical decisions to the point they may rely more heavily on the advice of their physicians or guardians. Because of the diminished mental capacity of the patients being treated , this Court finds the actions of the Defendants, upon this audience, to be detestable."
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My heart cries day and night
As a mother who had no idea what Risperdal was in the Fall of 1999, I too consider the act of lying and burying data by Johnson and Johnson detestable.
I thought my daughter was dying and that is a day mother's don't forget. She was in the hospital for the first time, at the urging of a psychiatrist--where back then I was naive and thought that is what you do. You get help from doctors and kids go to hospitals to get well when something is wrong.
That is a day I will regret my entire life, due to the fact that the Risperdal was removed and Zyprexa was added, along with a new overnight dx that is now removed--Childhood Bipolar Disorder, along with the addition of Depakote, Zoloft and a soon to follow decade of a nightmare of doctors overmedicating my daughter with drugs made by companies who were out to make a profit and not ever consider the patients they were injuring and lives they were changing and ruining forever.
Johnson and Johnson, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca are all guilty of hiding data that could have changed the outcome of so many lives and let us never forget that CHILDREN DEPEND ON PARENTS, CAREGIVERS AND GUARDIANS AND THEIR DOCTORS FOR INFORMED CONSENT.
CHILDREN ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE OF ALL MENTAL HEALTH PATIENTS AND JOHNSON AND JOHNSON'S BUSINESS PRACTICES CAUSED THEM TO RECEIVE UNDUE HARM.
Review of the word of the day
Detestable.
de·test·able adj \di-ˈtes-tə-bəl, dē-\
1.Stimulating disgust or detestation; offensive; shocking.
Usage notes to which "detestable" is often applied: crime, thing, practices, act, character, nature, person, conduct, villain, behavior.
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3 comments:
It is truly criminal; the failure to fully disclose what is known about these drugs---that it is, and has been, what how "mental health treatment" is done and is continuing to be done to children; and guardians are still not informed...NAMI and CABF, among others, are still voicing the lies of pharmaceutical backers and seriously conflicted advisors through it's "education and advocacy." Altogether, it is obvious to me there is an serious infection which has spread among them that causes a lack of morality, and ethics to become acceptable. I don't believe that this will be stopped until the crimes committed by prescribers, pharmacists, and drug industry employees are prosecuted.
The reality of what is known, and has been known about the effects of neuroleptics---The fact they are now considered "treatment" for fucking everything--their current widespread use is genocide plain and simple. There is no excuse, there is no other more accurate description.
I am at times so angry--how could so much harm be considered "justifiable risks" and worse; who the fuck are these "doctors" who think they have the right to make this decision for my son, or for any fucking body else???
Stephany,
This is "Indefensible."
Indefensible -
a : incapable of being maintained as right or valid : untenable
b : incapable of being justified or excused : inexcusable
Duane Sherry
praise be to judge crouch! we should all write him a thank-you letter for his objectivity - and passion - in speaking the truth about the disgraceful (to use another D word) practices of Janssen Pharmaceutica. which of course are no different from the other drug companies. on the homepage of my website for folks with mood disorders i state: Meds for Life? A New Paradigm. see NewDirectionsSupport.org. thx again for updating us.
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