Sunday, August 5, 2012

PHARMECEUTICAL REPUBLISCAMS



For a great many years I have been decrying the various “Industry Abuses” that have been allowed by our corrupt government to fester, injure and even kill innocent Americans for profit. Just like the Nuclear Industry or the Coal Industry or the Military Industrial Complex, the Pharmeceutical Industry is a "criminal racket that makes money off of the deaths and suffering of innocent people."

In the following text, I cite a few examples.

Anybody can make claims, but when the headlines confirm the claims, people finally begin to take notice. In recent years:

1. GlaxoSmithKline was fined a whopping $3 billion for lying to the FDA, hiding clinical trial data, bribing doctors, and engaging in openly fraudulent marketing.

2. Two scientists working for vaccine and drug manufacturer Merck reported that their company was faking vaccine efficacy data by spiking blood samples with animal antibodies.

3. Pfizer, meanwhile has been sued by the nation's pharmacy retailers for what is alleged as an "overarching anticompetitive scheme" to keep low cost generic cholesterol drugs off the market. A drug company can maximize its profits that way, and of course, Pfizer did and did so with no sense of conscience or concept of morality.

The sad reality is that we have a criminal drug industry that shirks, shuns and weasels out of the use of real scientific process and has repeatedly engaged in mafia like tactics to falsely “prove their products to be safe and effective.” They have an established history of scientific fraud, lying to regulators, bribery, and monopolistic practices that clearly harm and kill countless innocent people. They have become a modern clique of criminal corporations that have proven they will do anything to keep their profits rolling in for their majority owners. It makes no difference who they have to bribe, what studies they have to falsify, or who has to be threatened into silence.

LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT RECENT REVELATIONS:

1. GLAXOSMITHCLINE PEADS GUILTY TO BRIBERY FRAUD AND OTHER CRIMES!

This was the largest criminal fraud settlement ever to come out of the pharmaceutical industry, GlaxoSmithKline pleaded guilty and agreed to pay One Billion Dollars in criminal fines and Two Billion Dollars in civil fines following a nearly ten year federal investigation into its activities.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/drugs/story/2012-07-02/glaxosmithkline-pleads-guilty-3B-fine-illicit-promotion-prescription-drugs/55979616/1):

According to U.S. federal investigators, GlaxoSmithKline

• Routinely bribed doctors with luxury vacations and generously paid speaking gigs
• Fabricated drug safety data and lied to the FDA
• Defrauded Medicare and Medicaid out of billions
• Deceived regulators about the effectiveness of its drugs
• Relied on its deceptive practices to earn billions of dollars selling potentially dangerous drugs to unsuspecting consumers and medical patients

GlaxoSmithKline didn't even try to deny any of this. The company simply paid the $3 billion fine, apologized to its customers, and continued conducting business as usual but increased their national and international advertizing to paint the company as a benefactor to mankind.

By the way, in addition to bribing physicians, GlaxoSmithKline has plenty of money to spread around bribing celebrities and others who openly pimp its products. The company reportedly paid $275,000 to Famed radio host and television personality Dr. Drew Pinskey (or just Dr. Drew) who promoted Glaxo's mind-altering antidepressant drug Wellbutrin.

http://naturalsociety.com/top-radio-doctor-paid-by-glaxosmithkline-to-push-drugs/ As the Wall Street Journal reports:

(…) popular radio personality Dr. Drew Pinsky used the airwaves to extol the virtues of GlaxoSmithKline PLC's antidepressant Wellbutrin, telling listeners he prescribes it and other medications to depressed patients because it "may enhance or at least not suppress sexual arousal" as much as other antidepressants do. But one thing listeners didn't know was that, two months before the program aired, Dr. Pinsky -- who gained fame as "Dr. Drew" during years co-hosting a popular radio sex-advice show "Loveline" -- received the second of two payments from Glaxo totaling $275,000 for "services for Wellbutrin."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303933404577505032006855076.html

2. MERCK FALSIFIED VACCINE DATA, SPIKED BLOOD SAMPLES AND A LOT MORE SAY TWO FORMER EMPLOYEES.

http://www.examiner.com/article/whistleblowing-virologists-sue-merck-for-alleged-falsification-of-mumps-data)

According to former Merck virologists Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski, Merck designed even more scientifically flawed methodology, this time incorporating the use of animal antibodies to artificially inflate the results; but it, too, failed to achieve Merck's fabricated efficacy rate. Confronted with two failed methodologies, Merck then falsified the test data to guarantee the results it desired. Having achieved the desired, albeit falsified, efficacy threshold, Merck submitted these fraudulent results to the FDA and European Medicines Agency." and sold a vaccine that actually promoted mumps and measles outbreaks
• "Falsified test data to fabricate a vaccine efficacy rate of 95 percent or higher."
• Spiked the blood test with animal antibodies in order to artificially inflate the appearance of immune system antibodies.
• Pressured the two virologists to "participate in the fraud and subsequent cover-up."
• Used the falsified trial results to swindle the U.S. government out of "hundreds of millions of dollars for a vaccine that does not provide adequate immunization."
• Intimidated the scientists, threatening them with going to jail unless they stayed silent.

Numerous Lawsuits have been filed because millions of children have been put at risk by Merck. The lawsuits only confirm earlier allegations.

AMONG THE SERIOUS ISSUES:

• [Merck engaged in] ...a decade-long scheme to falsify and misrepresent the true efficiency and viability of its vaccine.
• Merck fraudulently represented and continues to falsely represent in its labeling and elsewhere that its Mumps Vaccine has an “efficacy rate” of 95 percent of higher.
• Merck knows and has taken affirmative steps to conceal -- by using improper testing techniques and falsifying test data -- that its Mumps Vaccine is, and has been since at least 1999, far less than 95 percent effective.
• Merck designed a testing methodology that evaluated its vaccine against a less virulent strain of the mumps virus. After the results failed to yield Merck's desired efficacy, Merck abandoned the methodology and concealed the study's findings.
• Merck also engaged in "incorporating the use of animal antibodies to artificially inflate the results... destroying evidence of the falsified data and then lying to an FDA investigator... threatened a virologist in Merck's vaccine division with jail if he reported the fraud to the FDA."
• "Merck designed a testing methodology that evaluated its vaccine against a less virulent strain of the mumps virus. After the results failed to yield Merck's desired efficacy, Merck abandoned the methodology and concealed the study's findings.
• "Merck took steps to cover up the tracks of its fraudulent testing by destroying evidence of the falsified data and then lying to an FDA investigator... Merck also attempted to buy the silence and cooperation of its staff by offering them financial incentives to follow the direction of Merck personnel overseeing the fraudulent testing process. Merck also threatened... Stephen Krahling, a virologist in Merck's vaccine division from 1999 to 2001, with jail if he reported fraud to the FDA."
• "Merck continued to conceal what it knew about the diminished efficacy of its Mumps Vaccine even after significant mumps outbreaks in 2006 and 2009."

The complaints accuse Merck of allegedly ripping off governments and consumers who bought the vaccine thinking it was "95% effective. (…)"the United States has over the last decade paid Merck hundreds of millions of dollars for a vaccine that does not provide adequate immunization... The United States is by far the largest financial victim of Merck's fraud." That, of course is what Republiscams cherish, the ripping off of the Federal Government because American taxpayers do not know how to fight back.

CHILDREN ARE THE REAL VICTIMS.

The sad reality is that children are the real victims, as we are seeing children coming down with Mumps all around the globe. Many of the parents of the children thought that their kids were immunized only to realize the immunization did not work. The article goes on to claim that in the area that the Examiner serves, “Sacramento, San Francisco, and Berkeley, CA have experienced growing mumps outbreaks, including a mumps outbreak on the UC Berkeley campus, among Sacramento children, and on several San Francisco college campuses.” Multiply that local reporting by all the communities of the planet, and you have a good picture how horrific the corruption has been.

MERCK’S MUMPS VIRAL STRAIN IS 45 YEARS OLD!

According to the complaint, Merck has been using the same weakened mumps strain for the last 45 years! Viruses change with time. The complaint reads:

"For more than thirty years, Merck has had an exclusive license from the FDA to manufacture and sell a mumps vaccine in the U.S. The FDA first approved the vaccine in 1967. It was developed by Dr. Maurice Hilleman, at Merck's West Point research facility, from the mumps virus that infected his five year-old daughter Jeryl Lynn. Merck continues to use this 'Jeryl Lynn' strain of the virus for its vaccine today." And all those hundreds of millions of American children and adults who lined up to be injected with MMR vaccines were all tricked into potentially harming themselves while receiving no medical benefit.

3. PFIZER SUED BY RETAILERS OVER ANTI-COMPETITIVE SCHEMES.

Adding to all this, Pfizer has now been sued by five U.S. retailers (pharmacies) who accuse the company of Monopolistic Market Practices. (MMP) All the Big Industries pull this sheeeeet!

According to the lawsuit, Pfizer conspired to prevent generic versions of its blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor from entering the market. This was done to protect billions in profits while making sure patients did not have access to more affordable cholesterol drugs. Pfizer sells nearly $10 billion worth of Lipitor each year.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/05/us-pfizer-walgreen-lipitor-lawsuit-idUSBRE86419U20120705 According to the Reuters report on this lawsuit, Pfizer is being accused of • Obtaining a fraudulent patent • Engaging in sham litigation • Entering a price-fixing agreement to delay cheaper generics • Entering arrangements with pharmacy benefit managers to force retailers to buy more Lipitor Here is the information that Pfizer has to publish about Lipitor’s side effects because of Federal Law Mandate. Thank goodness this is required.

These serious side effects include:

• Muscle problems. LIPITOR can cause serious muscle problems that can lead to kidney problems, including kidney failure. You have a higher chance for muscle problems if you are taking certain other medicines with LIPITOR.
• Liver problems. LIPITOR can cause liver problems. Your doctor may do blood tests to check your liver before you start taking LIPITOR, and while you take it. Call your doctor right away if:
• You have muscle problems like weakness, tenderness, or pain that happen without a good reason, especially if you also have a fever or feel more tired than usual
• You have allergic reactions including swelling of the face, lips, tongue, and/or throat that may cause difficulty in breathing or swallowing, which may require treatment right away
• You experience nausea and vomiting
• You pass brown or dark-colored urine
• You feel more tired than usual
• Your skin and whites of your eyes get yellow
• You have stomach pain
• You have an allergic skin reaction

In clinical studies, patients frequently reported the following common side effects while taking LIPITOR (atorvastatin calcium) tablets:

• Diarrhea
• Upset stomach
• Muscle and joint pain
• Alterations in some laboratory tests
The following additional side effects have been reported with LIPITOR (atorvastatin calcium) tablets:

• Tiredness
• Tendon problems

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you have side effects that bother you or that will not go away. These are not all the side effects of LIPITOR (atorvastatin calcium) tablets. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for a complete list.

Notice how they forget to mention DEATH! That brown or dark colored urine is an indication of internal bleeding.

For more insight, you might want to read this article: http://www.proliberty.com/observer/20071001.htm

WHERE ARE THE ARRESTS OR PROSECUTION OF BIT PHARMACEUTICAL EXECUTIVES FOR THEIR RAPE OF AMERICA?

The most frightening realizations in all this is that given all the obfuscation, misrepresentation, bribery, criminal fraud, price fixing, lying to the FDA, and other crimes that are going on in the pharmaceutical industry, you'd think some Fat Cat Executive somewhere might be arrested and charged with a crime. After all, they are Republiscams and do need to be punished. Right?

Wrong! Sadly, as I type this not a single pharmaceutical CEO, marketing employee or drug rep has been charged with anything related to all this fraud. In America, drug company employees are obviously "above the law" just like all the other corrupt industries can openly commit crimes, but are consistently free from prosecution. Our government is failing us! Granted, Leona Helmsley went to prison. She was the filthy rich “Queen of Mean” who felt that paying Income Taxes was beneath her. Income taxes were for the “little people” with little incomes. Big Incomes either in Corporations or the Fat Cats who profit from them get to have their way in Washington and obviously the world. America has become a dysfunctional nation run by Republiscams for the Republiscams and those Filthy Rich Sons of Bitches are not sharing their ill gotten gains with you. Call them on the carpet and they will just flee to another country that does not have extradition with the United States for the crimes that the Republiscams have committed.

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Born Chicago. Lived: Palos Heights Chicago, Illinois; American Samoa; Mexico; Escondido and San Diego, California; and then I finally graduated from High School. Subsequently, 12 years in the Navy took me all over the world.