March 27, 2008

Teen screen update

Abilify, Geodon, Risperdal, Seroquel and Zyprexa are the names of the
"atypical antipsychotics". They are newer, more expensive and just as
damaging as the older "antipsychotics" such as Thorazine and Haldol.

It is illegal for a drug company to promote a drug for uses not approved
by the FDA. Example. Promoting Antipsychotic Drugs for "ADHD" .

<http://tmap.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/otsuka-to-pay-fine-to-resolve-abil
ify-marketing-probe/>
http://tmap.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/otsuka-to-pay-fine-to-resolve-abili
fy-marketing-probe/

Otsuka to Pay Fine to Resolve Abilify Marketing Probe
Bloomberg News
By Robert Schmidt and Beth Jinks
March 27, 2008

Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. agreed to pay $4 million to resolve U.S.
allegations it marketed the schizophrenia drug Abilify for off-label
uses in cahoots with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which settled in
September.

The Justice Department accused New York-based Bristol-Myers and Otsuka
American Pharmaceutical Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of the closely held
Japanese drugmaker which invented Abilify, of promoting the
antipsychotic for use in children, and as a remedy for dementia, without
regulator approval.

Use in children wasn't approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
at the time, and the drug is required to carry the most severe safety
warning, a so-called black box, for use in dementia-related psychosis.

Abilify Booth at NAMI CONVENTION (National Alliance on Mental Illness),
San Diego, CA June 20 - June 24, 2007 (courtesy of
<http://www.namipharma.org/> www.namipharma.org)

In September, Bristol-Myers completed an agreement to pay $515 million
to settle U.S. allegations it overcharged the government for drugs and
promoted medicines including Abilify for unapproved uses. Bristol-Myers
directed its sales force to visit child psychiatrists and nursing homes,
the Justice Department said in September. Otsuka's sales force was "led
primarily by Bristol-Myers sales managers," the department said today.

Otsuka will pay the U.S. government about $2.3 million and the remainder
to states' Medicaid programs, the company said in a statement. It agreed
to a corporate integrity agreement, without specifying the length of the
compliance and monitoring pledged.

Bristol-Myers also agreed to a five-year corporate integrity agreement
that requires the company to maintain compliance programs to monitor
business practices. It avoided criminal charges.

The U.S. investigation of Bristol-Myers involved more than 50 medicines.
The company was accused of inflating prices used by the government to
set reimbursement rates for some drugs, and improper promotional
activities for others.

_____

26,359 Signatures Against TeenScreen:
<http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html>
http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html Video:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfU9puZQKB3Y>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfU9puZQKB3Y

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