Drug Maker Said to Pay Ghostwriters for Journal Articles

December 15, 2008

Wyeth, the pharmaceutical company, paid ghostwriters to produce medical journal articles favorable to its female hormone replacement therapy Prempro, according to Congressional letters seeking more information about the company’s involvement in medical ghostwriting. At least one article was published even after a federal study found the drug raised the risk of breast cancer.

 

The letters, sent electronically Friday by Senator Charles E. Grassley, ask Wyeth and DesignWrite, a medical writing firm, to disclose payments related to the preparation of journal articles and the activities of doctors who were recruited to put their names on them for publication.

 

The letters are part of a continuing investigation by Mr. Grassley, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, into drug industry influence on doctors. “Any attempt to manipulate the scientific literature, that can in turn mislead doctors to prescribe drugs that may not work and/or cause harm to their patients, is very troubling,” Mr. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, wrote Friday to Wyeth’s chairman and chief executive, Bernard J. Poussot.

Phone calls and e-mail messages to Wyeth and DesignWrite were not immediately returned.

 

Read Article: New York Times

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Malpractice suit wins $6 million for plaintiff

A 45-year-old rancher won $6 million this week in a medical malpractice lawsuit against a Wahiawa physician. In an Oahu Circuit Court judgment filed Monday, Antonio Richardson won $4.1 million in special damages and $2 million in general damages against physician Arnold Seid.

 

According to court records, Richardson went to Seid in 2001, when tests for health insurance showed signs of kidney disease. For two years, Seid treated Richardson for high blood pressure, ignoring test results indicating kidney disease, the plaintiff alleged.

Seid eventually referred Richardson to a specialist, but by then his kidneys were already dead, defense documents said.

 

Seid declined to comment yesterday.An expert witness said Richardson should have been referred to a kidney specialist in 2001. Another witness said his kidney problems, if treated, could have been delayed or prevented.

 

Read Article: Honolulu Star Bulletin

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

State sues company over no-fax law

Indiana has filed a lawsuit against the largest alleged violator in the two-year history of the state’s no-fax law, Attorney General Steve Carter announced Sunday.The lawsuit, filed Friday in Hamilton Circuit Court, accuses Texas-based Envarion Corp. of sending thousands of junk faxes across the state and thus violating a state law that prohibits unsolicited faxes.

 

Carter said his office has received 1,842 complaints against Envarion from Hoosiers in 57 of the state’s 92 counties.”This company would send out blasts of faxes throughout Indiana,” Carter said. “People don’t want these faxes. They are a violation of our law, and we brought this legal action to force their compliance.”

 

Officials for Envarion could not be reached for comment Sunday. According to state law, the company could be fined up to $1,500 per violation — or a total of more than $2.7 million. Carter said the lawsuit was filed in Hamilton County because several complainants and witnesses who kept copies of the faxes live there.

 

Read Article: Indianapolis Star

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Makers not liable in asbestos cases

In separate cases dealing with asbestos-related illness, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a manufacturer can’t be held liable for failing to warn about the hazards of someone else’s product. The cases involve two men who once worked aboard Navy ships, Joseph Simonetta and Vernon Braaten.

 

Simonetta said his lung cancer was caused by performing maintenance on an evaporator, a device that removes salt from seawater. Braaten, who worked as a pipefitter, developed mesothelioma.More than a dozen companies were sued, including Griscom Russell, now called Viad.

 

In Simonetta’s case, after the evaporator was shipped from the Griscom Russell plant in 1941 or 1942, it was insulated with asbestos products made by another company. The asbestos exposure that contributed to Simonetta’s lung cancer allegedly occurred in 1958 or 1959, when asbestos insulation had to be removed from the evaporator during maintenance work. Simonetta served in the Navy 1954 to 1974, and was diagnosed in 2000 and 2002.

 

Read Article: Seattle Times

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

Insurer’s asbestos-related lawsuits at high court

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider reinstating a roughly $500 million settlement of asbestos-related lawsuits against the Travelers Companies Inc. The settlement would also block any new lawsuits against Travelers arising out of the insurance company’s long relationship with Johns Manville Corp., once the world’s largest producer of asbestos.

 

Travelers has been named in dozens of lawsuits claiming that it tried to hide the dangerous health effects of asbestos. Asbestos is a mineral that was commonly used until the mid-1970s in insulation and fireproofing material. Exposure can increase the risk of lung cancer, mesothelioma and other ailments, according to federal health agencies.

 

The company has argued that asbestos-related claims should be paid out of a trust created by Johns Manville in the 1980s and approved by a federal bankruptcy judge. Money for the fund came largely from insurers. Travelers agreed to settle with several groups of plaintiffs provided that federal courts make clear that it would not have to face any new similar lawsuits.

 

Read Article: San Diego Union Tribune

 

Posted By: Phoenix DUI Attorney

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