Hoodwinking Seroxat Profit

Thanks to Ruth for sending me this article that appeared on the Daily Mail Healh Page

The article was entitled - What a carry on doctor! A newly qualified GP reveals what really happens behind surgery walls' and I was very interested to read the last section which I have reproduced for you here.

The article was written by By DR JONATHAN GOLDBERG. Here is the section you may all find interesting.

Hoodwinking

How do the pharmaceutical companies hoodwink us into doing that? Young and attractive drug reps buy us lunch or even take us out for dinner at posh restaurants, then feed us biased information on why we should use their more expensive medicine and give us free pens sporting their brand.

In the U.S., pharmaceutical companies employ former American football players and cheerleaders to do this.

Like everyone else, doctors are suckers for a pretty face. The attractive female reps are sent to sell their products to the predominantly male surgical consultants, while the pretty-boy male reps sell to the more female-dominated obstetric and paediatric departments.

Fortunately, in this country our retired sports stars tend to fall ungracefully into alcoholism and gambling addiction rather than trying to sell us over-priced medicines.

At one dispensing practice I worked for, I was shocked when the partners passed round a list of the medications that we were 'encouraged' to prescribe

One of these was the antidepressant Seroxat, which has recently had a huge amount of justifiably bad press.

The manufacturer was accused of hiding evidence that its use has been linked with higher suicide rates in young people.

Despite this, the partners were encouraging us to prescribe it over safer, cheaper and equally effective anti-depressant alternatives.

When I questioned this, I was told the dispensary (i.e. the partners), make only a penny on every prescription of Prozac they dispense, but a pound (£1) profit on every Seroxat prescription.

As well as constant pressure from drug reps, GPs also face resistance from patients when trying to change medication.

Full story here

Read the new book, The Evidence, However, Is Clear...The Seroxat Scandal

By Bob Fiddaman

ISBN: 978-1-84991-120-7
CHIPMUNKA PUBLISHING

AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD HERE


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