Australian Pharmacists Paid By Pfizer For Patient Details

The Sydney Morning Herald is reporting that Pfizer, one of the world's biggest drug companies, has been accused of paying Australian pharmacists to promote some of its best-selling drugs.

The Herald writes:

Pfizer pays pharmacies a $7 ''administration fee'' for each patient signed up to so-called support programs that involve the drug company providing information directly to patients about nine of its drugs.

Pharmacists say the deal, which Pfizer struck with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia in July, is similar to the one dumped this month for them to market dietary supplements with prescription medicines.

The pharmacists' union said it was another example of the owners' guild using the good name of pharmacists to boost its profits. The union called on the guild to abandon the deal.

One of the drugs included in the scheme is Pfizer's cholesterol-lowering blockbuster Lipitor, for which more than 10 million prescriptions were filled last year through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme at a cost to the taxpayer of almost $600 million.

Pfizer will face competition from cheaper generic versions of the drug when its patent expires early next year.

Patients who sign up for the 12-week support program linked to Lipitor receive a cookbook and weekly emails containing health advice. Other Pfizer drugs with associated support programs are Champix, Xalatan, Viagra, Lyrica, Pristiq, Aricept, Celebrex and Effexor XR.

It's classic advertising by proxy and a cunning way to get around the ban on direct to consumer advertising that exists in Australia. Glaxo did the same back in 2002 with the marketing of Aropax [That's Seroxat and/or Paxil to you and I]. They kindly offered special counselling with the A Plus Project...on the proviso that the patient continued to take their medication, if they didn't then the offer of counseling was withdrawn. Great ethics, eh? [Source]

So, if you are an Australian and you have, in the past, used another pharmaceutical product for your erectile dysfunction, don't be surprised if you are sent some paraphernalia through the post that 'bigs up' [excuse the pun] Pfizer's products.

A Pfizer spokeswoman said the programs were designed to benefit patients rather than achieve commercial objectives.

''Under no circumstances does Pfizer market its medicines directly to patients,'' she said.

Yeh, and a cow just jumped over the moon!

Fid

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

Researchers Seek Prolonged Antidepressant Withdrawal Cases

An Italian researcher is collecting case reports of prolonged antidepressant withdrawal syndrome for important research papers now in progress. Something that should have been done by the pharmaceutical companies and medicine regulators years ago!

Please send your case report immediately -- instructions and an e-mail address are given below. Reports may be in English, French, Spanish, or Italian.

The research effort is led by Dr. Carlotta Belaise, a colleague of Dr. Giovanni A. Fava and frequent co-author with him of scientific papers challenging the long-term use of antidepressants.

Dr. Belaise is a research fellow in the Affective Disorders Program of the department of psychology at the University of Bologna in Italy. Her research team is collecting data on antidepressant withdrawal syndrome, "which we strongly believe is a very important, common and delicate clinical problem."

"A couple of manuscripts on this important issue are in progress."

Please send your case report immediately in this format:

Your pseudonym (to use if your report is published)
The date of this report
Your current age
Gender (if female, menopausal?)
Psychiatric drug history
When and how did you taper off each medication?
Your symptoms in the earlier phase of withdrawal
Your current symptoms
Which symptoms have gotten better? Which have gotten worse? What treatments have been helpful?
Is there anything else you would like to say about withdrawal and withdrawal syndrome?


Your identity will remain confidential. Researchers may contact you through your e-mail address for clarification, if necessary, and possibly for longitudinal follow-up periodically to track your recovery. Your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose.

Send your e-mail HERE

HAT-TIP: SURVIVING ANTIDEPRESSANTS FORUM

Fid

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

US/CANADA COPIES HERE 
UK/IRELAND FROM CHIPMUNKA PUBLISHING 

ANTIDEPRESSANT SUICIDE VIDEO

SSRISTORIES.COM has a collection of 4,400+ news stories with the full media article available, mainly criminal in nature, that have appeared in the media (newspapers, TV, scientific journals) or that were part of FDA testimony in either 1991, 2004 or 2006, in which antidepressants are mentioned.

SSRi Stories is a great resource, here's just a small number of SSRi related suicides I have highlighted in this video.

http://ssristories.com/



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'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman
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