Pfizer to pay $142M for drug fraudSales of drug total $300M annually in CanadaCBC NewsPharmaceutical giant Pfizer has been ordered to pay $142 million US in damages for fraudulently marketing gabapentin, an anti-seizure drug marketed under the name Neurontin.A federal jury in Boston ruled Thursday that Pfizer fraudulently marketed the drug and promoted it for unapproved uses. The jury sided with California-based Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, the first to try a gabapentin case against Pfizer.Data revealed in a string of U.S. lawsuits indicates the drug was promoted by the drug company as a treatment for for pain, migraines and bipolar disorder — even though it wasn't effective in treating these conditions and was actually toxic in certain cases, according to the Therapautics Initiative, an independent drug research group at the University of British Columbia.The trials forced the company to release all of its studies on the drug, including the ones it kept hidden.A new analysis of those unpublished trials by the Therapeutics Initiative suggests that gabapentin works for one out of every six or eight people who use it, at best. The review also concluded that one in eight people had an adverse reaction to the drug."The much larger majority of people will not get any benefit and many of them will have chronic neurotoxicity or poisoning of the brain," said Dr. Tom Perry of the Therapeutics Initiative.Dr. Harry Pollett, a pain specialist in North Sydney, N.S., calls gabapentin a so-so drug with potentially serious side-effects for patients. These include drowsiness, balance problems, fogginess and edema, or swelling."Weight gain is a very common problem and I see that a lot," Pollett said.The drugs represent a waste of money for Canada's health-care system, said Perry, who questioned why some doctors continue to encourage people to take the drug even though the patients are not benefiting."We have been using probably somewhere in the order of around $300 million a year in Canada recently and this drug has been overused since the late 1990s," Perry said. "So, do the math. It's probably well in excess of a billion dollars."Pfizer defends its actions and its drug. The company has already been hit with $430 million in penalties and fines for fraudulently promoting gabapentin in the U.S.With files from the Associated PressRead more: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/03/25/gabapentin-ubc.html#ixzz0...

You need to be a member of Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community to add comments!

Join Ashtar Command - Spiritual Community

Email me when people reply –

Topics by Tags

Monthly Archives

Latest Activity

Drekx Omega left a comment on Music for your soul.
"Soulista & Polose - What I Feel🛸🎵🎶✨✨🌎✨✨✨💜🩶💛✨✨✨👏🏻😎

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgy337c8glw"
2 hours ago
Drekx Omega left a comment on Comment Wall
"Labour did not glean the Wakerfield seat, Burnham did and his election posters did not even mention the Labour party....They voted Burnham, to remove Starmer....So the whole thing was more like a "presidential election," rather than a British MP…"
6 hours ago
Drekx Omega left a comment on Comment Wall
"It's a revelatory report that Gabbard released....My only disagreement with it, is it's statement that the leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) was an "unintentional lab leak that sparked the pandemic."..I think it was DELIBERATE and…"
7 hours ago
Drekx Omega posted a status
9 hours ago
Andromedaner Z left a comment on Comment Wall
"yes Drekx, great news LOL"
10 hours ago
Drekx Omega left a comment on Comment Wall
"Looks like Tulsi Gabbard just squashed 🐌Dr Fauci......Oooopppsss...!! 🥳"
10 hours ago
Andromedaner Z left a comment on Comment Wall
"Tulsi Gabbard:
"Today, on my final day as Director of National Intelligence, I’m releasing never-before-seen communications and documents exposing how Dr. Fauci provided millions in US taxpayer dollars to fund dangerous gain-of-function research at…"
10 hours ago
Drekx Omega left a comment on Comment Wall
"Yes, there were many waves of cosmic migration out of the Plejares and they spread out, some coming to Earth and this was way before the GFL had them as members....A war torn star nation, a star league, in desperate times, wanting to create a united…"
11 hours ago
More…