Well we knew it was the case all along but this week there are emails released as part of Vioxx litigation in Australia against the drug company Merck related to Vioxx induced heart attacks, that show that Merck drew up a “hit list” of doctors in academia whose opinions about Vioxx were negative in order to “neutralise” or “discredit” them (their words, not mine). One of the emails stated:
We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live
In other words, use influence and intimidation to block their promotion, remove their research funding, or threaten their universities with such tactics. Some doctors get death threats and letters are sent to their deans, or their deans get phone calls. As I have written previously, Hoffmann La Roche Pharmaceuticals didn’t like my opinion about their acne drug Accutane and depression, and went to great lengths to discredit me. One attorney who came onto the scene late said it was a “cautionary tale” and another one said that they did that in order to make an example, so that noone in the future would say negative things about their drugs.
So what you have is a picture where drug companies shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars to key academic physician leaders to buy their good will, and those whom they can’t buy off they try to destroy.
Find out where they live and destroy them!
Hat tip to Marilyn Mann.
[update: video of "V-squad" training video of super heroes used to train Vioxx sales team posted here.]
David Healy was the target of this sort of thing too after giving a speech about antidepressants and suicidality — how dare he? I think your former department head went after him in a big way. I thought we left bullying behind in grade school but I guess not.
There is quite a list actually:
John Buse MD, UNC, Avandia
Curt Furberg, Wake Forest, anti hypertensive drugs and Vioxx (alleged death threats)
Btw I am sick of hearing about the Emory Psychiatry former chair.
It would make great science fiction if it weren’t reality. Where has morality gone?
In terms of harassment and intimidation for speaking out contrary to commercial interests of “thought leaders,” there is nothing that can compare in scope and destructiveness as the retaliation that has been targeted at physicians who treat Lyme disease patients. I know of at least two “trials” going on before the CT medical licensing board against doctors treating Lyme disease patients; and then there are the plethora of cases in New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Texas, Washington, Michigan, Wisconsin, Virginia – and I’m sure I’ve left some out. It’s always the same theme, and the same clique of “thought leaders” who are the “experts” who testify against the local docs. No wonder I have to drive 900 miles to see a doctor to treat my continuing symptoms of Lyme disease (“treatment failure”) – no physician is so stupid as to allow you in the door!
If you tell them you have Lyme disease, they figure out some argument they can make to discharge you from their practice.
Finally, CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal did step in and sue the Infection Diseases Society for antitrust violations – but it is a drop in the bucket. We are waiting for the new review process to run its course – but IDSA has stacked the deck in picking the individuals who sit to “review” the original “review” panel.
The documentary about this corruption – a movie called “Under Our Skin” is being released soon after making it’s way through the film festival scene. Go see it! The corruption is like nothing I have witnessed in any other area of medicine.
Cheers,
Lynn Shepler MD JD
Hi, I did a little more digging and found out those emails are available in a searchable database. Here’s an example:
http://dida.library.ucsf.edu/pdf/oxx03j10
What you seem to be implying about Steve Nissen does not fit with the person I know. As you know, he is a friend of mine and my husband’s and daughter’s cardiologist. He is a very tough, independent person.
Good job getting those emails! And no I wasn’t meaning to impugn Nissen.
Seems I recall one pharma went up Stanford’s chain of command a few years ago, threatning to withold various research funding (or somesuch) if a certain pharma-paid lecturing physician didn’t stop being “negative” (meaning, presenting a balanced view) about the medication. Stanford went public with the pharma threat. Pretty ugly stuff.
Sorry I cannot agree about Nissen, Marilyn. He apparently has a love of grandstanding or else has little empathy for children and adults with ADHD — or both. Until he learns about the brain, he should stop bullying on topics he knows little about.
Come to think of it, cardio docs should start learning about the brain. There is a connection, ya know, between the brain and the heart.
I feel your pain, Lynn. It’s the same way with ADHD, bi-polar, etc. I have little patience with physicians who cannot admit they’re ignorant and who care more for their own egos than patient welfare. Pffft.
[...] about this and similar tales of evil at Before You Take That Pill. You might recall that the superhero team in videos used to train Vioxx sales reps was known as the [...]