Emily Patterson - The Homeless Activist

I don't like seeing people living on the street ~ usually it stems from heartache or, in many cases, addiction that has led to loss of jobs, relationship breakdowns etc.

I don't like seeing 'one of our own' on the streets, particularly when they fight for justice, not for themselves but for other people.

Let me introduce one such person to you all.

Emily Patterson is a 48 year-old American woman who, for a number of years, has targeted the nefarious practices of pharmaceutical giant, Johnson & Johnson. She does so because she, like many other activists, myself included, have witnessed, and continue to witness, an injustice.

Some years ago Emily was working on a project for her website, Sunflower Naturals. Emily had, through her own research, discovered that lots of products on the shelves of many stores contained known toxins. Her first article related to many of these known toxins and she was contacted by victims of other products and realized just how large the problem with unsafe healthcare products had become. After participating in numerous advocacy campaigns by non-profits for over 20 years to get known toxins out of consumer goods Emily decided to to use what she had learned.

Ergo, Johnson & Toxin was born, a website that highlights Johnson & Johnson's activity, much of which that goes unreported in the mainstream media.. Emily's mission, she told me is, "If we can achieve cleaning the corruption out of Johnson & Johnson, their products will be safe globally, and all other pharmaceutical companies will have to follow suit to remain competitive."

Sadly, for Emily, she is homeless, drifting from place to place, scrimping and saving just to line her stomach with sustenance provided by food stamps. She is currently living on a beach in Florida, a blanket and tarpaulin her only source of shelter. (Fig 1) - A description of events that led to Emily losing her home can be found here.

Fig 1

Tenacious as ever, Emily still continues to target Johnson & Johnson and today (28 April) she intends to gatecrash a J&J shareholder meeting. She writes...

Johnson & Johnson Annual Shareholder Meeting is on Thursday, April 28th, 2016 at 10 AM. I'm sure every single one of us is looking forward to this Bee Ess Fest, with our beloved criminal CEO and Chairman of the Board, Alex Gorsky. He brought us global lawsuits, I mean products like, Risperdal to put boobs on boys and suck Medicaid dry through fraud. Gorsky also brought us other wonderful lawsuits, I mean products, such as Transvaginal Mesh, which turns vaginas into cheesegraters - a real turn-on for Viagra addicts, eh? And let's not forget his awesome all-metal hip lawsuits, I mean products, making your insides rot from metalosis before you are even dead. excellent way to die, ya think?

I'm wondering if maybe, this year at the Johnson & Johnson Shareholder Meeting, well-respected (well, unless you hate bankers), global leaders in finance, healthcare and supposed support for human health (well, since it includes their own, eh?), gather to be bullshitted by professional bullshitters like Alex Gorsky and Domsadick Caruso, will consider asking some real questions. Here are a few for starters:

1. When will Johnson & Johnson be required to, or grow a conscience and willingly, remove all body powder intended for women and baby girls, containing talc, which obviously dramatically increases the risk of developing killer ovarian cancer, from the shelves of physical and virtual stores of the United States?

2. When will the United States Justice Department do as requested and conduct a thorough investigation into the histories of Johnson & Johnson CEO Alex Gorsky and Johnson & Johnson CFO Dominic Caruso?

3. How does Johnson & Johnson intend to repay institutional investors for lost revenue due to foreclosures, loan defaults, etc of injured/dead victims of known harmful Johnson & Johnson products.

Remember, Emily, unlike me, has never been harmed by a pharmaceutical product. She does this on behalf of the many thousands (possibly millions) that have. For that she has my utmost respect and to see her homeless is deeply saddening.

During her time advocating for the likes of you and I Emily has been contacted by Johnson & Johnson present and past employees who have had issues with certain managers. Her website is a valuable source of information and is viewed by many thousands each day.

Her mission, for the present time at least, is to target J&J shareholders. She told me...

"I realized a few years ago that shareholders don't necessarily know Johnson & Johnson products are not safe. The are told the lawsuits are frivolous and are truthfully, just more focused on numbers, not all the drama. Shareholders call victims a cost of doing business. In a way, I would agree with that, except the injuries are extreme and severe with known harmful products still on the market. I believe that shareholders will consider forcing change in the pharmaceutical industry when they realize that victims are piling up globally, and the victims are also their customers. As more bank customers become disabled and dead from known harmful Johnson & Johnson (and other pharmaceutical company) products, banks suffer the loss since disabled and dead people cannot pay mortgages, repay loans or repay credit. If I can get global investors like Vanguard to look at the *numbers*, how much money is going out the back door and not coming back in, we have a good chance of shareholders protecting their vested interest: the health and safety of their customers. They might even realize these are their products also, and decide it's in their personal best interest to ensure their own safety."

Emily has been homeless since June 17th 2011 after losing her Pennsylvania home. She has skills that would put most of us to shame, being a website developer and having worked, in the past, for Google and Yahoo.

Despite the unpleasantness of living each day hand-to-mouth Emily still remains upbeat. She told me, "All these skills and no one wants to hire me. Doing what I can until something breaks for me. I believe everything is preordained, things will change when they are supposed to."

I have to take my hat off to Ms Patterson. I salute her.

Her website, Johnson & Toxin, can be found here and you can follow her on Twitter here.

Please support her in any way you can. The world needs more people like Emily Patterson.


Bob Fiddaman.

The Misuse of Abilify and Risperdal

I was recently contacted (via the comments section) by a mother who lost her son, Paul Victorian, due to, what she claims, was a result of being prescribed two very powerful medications, namely, Risperdal (Johnson & Johnson) and Abilify (Bristol-Myers Squibb Company)

Paul Gerard Victorian Jr was just 25 when he passed away on February 22, 2013. Cause of death, according to his mom, Tina, was cardiac arrest which, she believes, was caused by the medication he was taking prior to his death.

Tina has been at loggerheads with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has been trying to get answers to the type of questions we all should be asking.

It's painful to read but we, as humans with empathy, should not shirk our responsibilities just because this is someone else's child.

Tina writes...

"Only thing I know for sure is that my one and only son passed from a cardiac arrest on 30mg of Abilify. He didn’t have a heart disease, his heart was normal. He just had a complete Physical January 17, 2013 and he passed away February 22, 2013. Thirty two days later. I’m in pain. Most family went to visit there kids at there homes this Christmas, I went to Rockville Cemetery Row 2, Plot 1 on Campi Ave to spend Christmas with my one and only son. The crazy thing that we noticed is that the ground where his casket lays haven’t settled into the earth yet, my husband said it’s because Paul’s case/death isn’t settled. I promised Paul at his casket that mom was going to make this right, He didn’t have a voice but I, going to speak for him.I been trying to seek help since February 23, 2013 even before my baby was laid to rest trying to seek help."

Emails to the FDA and various other organisations have, it seems, proved fruitless. I know the feeling of frustration Tina must be feeling. Medicine regulators are notorious for giving people, and patients, the runaround.

As you can imagine, her online story regarding her son's death is fast-moving and packs a punch, it also pulls at the heart strings.

At present, I'm trying to make contact with Tina to put everything into one simple format. Hopefully, she will respond as I would love to share her story with readers of this blog.

Meantime, she has a blog and has come out fighting against the system that, seemingly, failed her son.

Her blog can be found here, it's harrowing but, hey, I've not found a pharmaceutical company or medicine regulator yet who can throw out any form of light to guide us, in fact, most of the stuff they regurgitate is surrounded by darkness.

Her story needs sharing and she needs support. I urge all the mothers and fathers out there to reach out to this woman, the same mothers and fathers who, over the years, I have met and listened to regarding the deaths of their children. You will know, more than I, what this tortured soul is going through right now, you will feel the pain and the frustration much more than someone like me who just writes about these kind of stories then has the ability (at times) to switch off and sleep.



Bob Fiddaman.

All That Glitters is Cafepharma

The forums over at Cafepharma are always good for a laugh. There are many to choose from, each one highlighting why the pharmaceutical industry is a place where reps turn into children who argue over the silliest of things and when questioned about ethics, bang the same drum as GlaxoSmithKline's CEO, Andrew Witty - in as much that any problem their company have been embroiled in isn't really a problem anyone should be talking about, it was all part of an era and everything and everyone has changed now.

Reading the forums one would think that it's not just patients and lawyers who don't trust the industry, there are many reps who frequent the forums to sound off and/or bitch about the latest bonus,cutback, layoff or manager.

You reap what you sow guys...and gals.

Cafepharma has a huge list of company boards, I'm going to focus on the big boys, namely, Johnson and Johnson, Eli Lilly and British giant, GlaxoSmithKline.

CafePharma Boards

Was browsing through the boards over at CafePharma earlier, I enjoy reading some of the threads on the GlaxoSmithKline page where disgruntled employees, many of them reps, attack the likes of Andrew... [**coughs]...sorry, Sir Andrew Witty.

I'm sure many of the anonymous posters on these boards are legit and are genuinely miffed about the company they work for. Long hours, promises of bonuses, changes in company mantra, promoting drugs off-label to doctors whilst wining and dining them or bringing their staff in coffee from Starbucks or donuts from the company that tell you to 'dunk them'

With what seems like a bitchin' pot of messages to Glaxo it surprises me that none of the disgruntled army of ex and current employees have ever thought about blowing the whistle on those they target.

Sure, it's great to beeatch and off-load your angst against the company but does it really change anything?

Glaxo aren't the only pharmaceutical company that comes under fire, there's different boards for each of the leading pharmaceutical companies, each of which are ladened with current and ex-employees attacking the various policies and management [ahem mismanagement] of the companies they once worked/work for.

I'm writing this in the hope that someone from these boards will pick up on it. By all means carry on bitchin', it makes great reading, but do something about it. Let's face it, the companies you work/ed for don't exactly look after you as they do their key opinion leaders [thought leaders] do they?

When was the last time a rep was given a big, fat meaty cheque for promoting a drug? Okay, they get a wage and, sometimes a bonus [when it's paid on time] but nowhere near to the sums paid to thought leaders such as Karen Wagner, Josef Biederman and/or Marty "bling bling" Keller.

I'd be miffed if I were an employee or ex-employee of major pharmaceutical companies. I'd be pissed at the fact that my employee had used me to promote drugs to children when, in actual fact, my company knew all along that these drugs were not safe for children. I'd be pissed that my company had paid out millions of dollars to thought leaders yet made me work extra-long hours for a mere pittance and a performance based bonus... based on how I could promote drugs for populations that weren't meant for those populations.

I'd be so pissed off with allowing myself to be manipulated by company spin just so I couldn't see the wood through the trees, the dense forest hiding the facts that I had been used as a drug peddler, my objective being to push doctors to prescribe to the vulnerable populations out there... Children.

Hey ho, thankfully I've never been down that road. My conscience is clear.

The bitchin' on CafePharma continues, the main objective, it seems, being just a place to let off steam.

Only way these disgruntled masses can get back at those who treated them with contempt is to start blowing whistles. I'm sure there are many whom have witnessed fraudulent acts against the US government. Whether or not they have been part of these acts is irrelevant - they can and should try to bring about change.

I'm a big fan of US attorneys, Baum Hedlund. They've kicked GlaxoSmithKline's ass to infinity... and beyond on many occasions. They, I'm sure, would welcome employees or ex-employees of big pharma to bitch at them down the phone.

Whistleblower suits are becoming more popular these days, particularly against pharmaceutical companies.

Allen Jones blew the whistle on Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit for promoting the off-label use of Risperdal in children. J&J settled with a payment of $158 million, some of which went Jones' way for blowing the whistle. The settlement came less than a month after J&J officials agreed to pay more than $1 billion to the U.S. and a number of states to end a civil investigation into Risperdal marketing practices.

Cheryl Eckard, who humiliated GlaxoSmithKline with regard to the appalling lapses at their manufacturing plant in Cidra, Puerto Rico, was also paid handsomely for whistleblowing. A cool $96 million went her way.

Helen Ge was a former contractor at Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. She learned that Takeda have been playing down risks of three of their drugs, particularly when combined with other drugs. She was fired from her position when she brought this to the attention of her seniors. She has now filed a whistleblower suit.

The more the merrier, I say.

So, I do hope that this post makes it across cyberspace to CafePharma. I also hope that I can somehow tap into the conscience of those who throw the flames anonymously on the boards over there.

Do what's right. Blow the whistle.

Just click on the image to start the ball rolling.

Alternatively, drop me an email... cos I just love blowing the whistle.






Fid

ORDER THE PAPERBACK 'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman US and CANADA HERE OR UK HERE

AUSTRALIAN ORDERS HERE

Risperdal Whistleblower

There has been much in the news recently about the whistleblowing case currently ongoing in Austin, Texas.

Allen Jones is blowing the whistle on Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit, whom, he alleges, paid a Texas mental health official to speak around the U.S. about state guidelines on prescribing antipsychotic drugs that gave preference to the company’s Risperdal medicine.

Risperdal is an atypical antipsychotic [2nd generation] and is used for the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and behaviour problems in people with autism. Many children have been prescribed Risperdal because they have been diagnosed with behavioural problems, ADHD being just one of many in a long line of labelled mental disorders that range from the sublime to the ridiculous.

Jones had stumbled across payments that were being made by pharmaceutical giants to state employees to promote the off-label use of Risperdal in children. Off-label because Risperdal is not recommended for children but its usage in children is a huge cash cow that has brought untold riches to its manufacturers. They saw a niche, saw the hurdle, then saw a workaround.

Award winning author Alison Bass wrote a piece on this case yesterday, she writes:

Jones first noticed these illegal payments when he was investigator for the state of Pennsylvania’s Office of Inspector General. He discovered that the state’s top pharmacist, the guy in charge of deciding what drugs should be included in its Medicaid formulary, was receiving hidden payments from J&J, the maker of Risperdal. Jones was fired when he brought those illegal payments to light, but he persevered, and with the help of GAP, won a lawsuit against the state of Pennsylvania and eventually saw the state pharmacist who was on the take fired from his job.

Many other commentators have chipped in with their thoughts and opinions on this particular case, none more so than the blogger who goes by the name of "1 Boring Old Man", his posts are far from boring. 1 Boring Old Man has flown down to Texas for the trial and his perspective on matters is refreshing, evidence of which can be seen HERE.

Last year saw another high profile whistleblower case. Cheryl Eckhard blew the whistle on GlaxoSmithKline.

Eckard's role at GSK [before she was too was fired] was to oversee the quality assurance at various GSK operational plants. One such plant was, the now infamous, Cidra plant in Puerto Rico.

Eckard was appalled at the state of the plant in Puerto Rico, she even told her seniors, for this, it appears, she was fired.

The drugs affected by the Glaxo's conduct included Paxil, Paxil CR, Avandia, Avandamet, Coreg, Bactroban, Abreva, Cimetidine, Compazine, Denavir, Dyazide, Thorazine, Stelazine, Ecotrin, Tagamet, Relafen, Kytril, Factive, Dyrenium and Albenza.

Examples of defective and/or misidentified products that the defendants released to the United States market from the Cidra plant were:

a. Drug product that was mixed up with drug product of a different type or strength, e.g., 30mg and 10 mg tablets of an anti-depressant mixed in the same bottle, and 12.5 and 6.25 mg tablets of a heart medication mixed in the same bottle.


b. A diabetes medication that was sub-potent and/or superpotent.


c. An antibiotic ointment used to treat a skin infection common in small children that was contaminated with a microorganism associated with bacteranemia, urinary tract infections, meningitis, wound infection, and peritonitis.


d. An injectable drug used to treat nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy that was contaminated with micro-organisms.

Lawyers defending the claims of both Eckhard and Jones stop at nothing to protect their clients. My opinion of pharmaceutical defence lawyers is that they are just as bad, if not worse, than the clients they are defending. They know, in the Risperdal case, that children were targeted and they know that this was an abhorrent way of profit-making - yet they defend their client's actions. Okay, everyone, even the likes of Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKline, are entitled to a defence. In both cases employees were fired from their positions when they brought failings/fraud to the attention of superiors. Life after that became 'uncomfortable' for the whistleblowers. It's all part of the game that defence lawyers and their clients play to 'muddy the waters' of the opposition.

As a blogger I like to cause as much pain and misery to those that have harmed myself and others. It's becoming more apparent that to sue a pharmaceutical company through the UK legal system one needs to jump through so many legal loopholes just to get financial aid, the system is designed in such a way to protect those causing the harm. Imagine, if you will, if serial-killers or murderers had the same protection, our prisons would be empty and those offenders would be given carte blanche to continue doing what they do best...in pretty much the same way pharmaceutical companies are allowed to do.

That's Britain. America is a whole different ball game.

US Attorney's Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman hit the nail on the head when they write:

Whistleblowers play a pivotal role in the detection, investigation and prosecution of fraud against the government. According to Taxpayers Against Fraud, more than 80 percent of cases pursued under the False Claims Act are initiated by whistleblowers. The False Claims Act, also called the Whistleblower Act or the Qui Tam Act, encourages citizens to bring forward evidence of fraud against the government and sue on the government's behalf.

They add:

Many people who step forward and become whistleblowers do so because they feel the risks are worth taking, to save lives, to protect the innocent and to right a wrong. It is because there are risks involved in filing a qui tam claim that the federal False Claims Act provides both whistleblower protection and a substantial reward for the “relator” (whistleblower who files a qui tam claim).

Jones has stepped up to the plate, he witnessed something that he knew wasn't morally right, In essence, children were being used by adults to make a fast profit, it's no better than child slavery. Jones needs to be applauded at every given opportunity, the American people owe him a great debt. Turning a blind eye to this wanton neglect of children is a vile and shameful act. Defending a person or persons when you know what you are defending is an abominable act is even more shameful.

With a bit of luck, courage, ethics, call it what you will, more and more people will start coming forward to whistleblow. Maybe, just maybe, the pharmaceutical companies will then start to get their house in order and come to terms with the fact that children, under no circumstances, should be used to make billions of dollars for a product they are selling.

We, as bloggers, have a moral obligation too. What the press fail to report on is the human aspect of cases such as Eckhard and Jones. We are in a position to whistleblow by proxy and offer our full support to those who stand up to be counted. The usual suspects are covering the Risperdal case, drum-bangers such as Soulful Sepulcher, 1 boring old man, Alison Bass... to name but a few.

I was recently contacted by an ex-pharmaceutical employee who has a story to tell, I won't go into matters [because I don't know the full ins and outs] but it involves yet another act of fraudulent behaviour by a pharmaceutical company. It's too early at this stage to say if this person will become a whistleblower...I sincerely hope they do.

So, do you want to be the next whistleblower? Got something you want to get off your chest? Do you want to put all those wrongs, right?

Good place to start would be Attorney's with a proven track record against the pharmaceutical industry.

**UPDATE -J&J Said to Settle Texas Risperdal Drug Case






Fid


ORDER THE PAPERBACK 'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman US and CANADA HERE OR UK HERE


AUSTRALIAN ORDERS HERE

Concerta 0 Common Sense 1

News breaking through from investigative journalist Janne Larsson is that the European Medicine Agencies have disapproved the ADHD drug Concerta for adults.


The short-term clinical trials held no certain positive effects, in fact quite the opposite.

Larsson writes:

There was clear evidence that Concerta can cause anxiety and agitated conditions in adults and also evidence that Concerta can cause aggression. Concerta may now only be used for adults, who before the age of 18 have had “a clear benefit from treatment” with “acceptable tolerability”; Concerta CANNOT be prescribed to other adults.

Larsson's breaking story can be read in full HERE

So, finally the bodies that regulate drugs have taken a common sense pill. What they need to do now is stop this particular drug being prescribed to children. I highlighted the way Concerta was advertised on YouTube in a post a few months ago. The ad, for the "ADHD" drug, methylphenidate, brand name Concerta, featured a mother speaking about how all of her children have ADHD...and all of them are on Concerta, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals. Inc wonder pill. The mother proudly boasted that she too has ADHD and is also on Concerta. The ad carried the disclaimer, "The individuals appearing in this video have been compensated for their participation and are not actors."


My original post is HERE

Strangely, the video has now been removed by the user, whether or not my post had something to do with the pulling of the video is another matter.

The fight against the psychopharmaceuitical monopoly continues...


Fid


ORDER THE PAPERBACK 'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman US and CANADA HERE
OR UK FROM CHIPMUNKA PUBLISHING

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