Community | September 01, 2009 | 9 comments

Pharmaceutical Company "Paid" Doctors To Market Antidepressant "Lexapro"

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/business/02drug.html?hp

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insanejain
The company on the spotlight is Forest Laboratories and its marketing campaign for its antidepressant drug Lexapro.

According to part of a confidential report “Lexapro Fiscal 2004 Marketing Plan,” released by the Senate’s Special Committee on Aging, Forest "planned to spend $34.7 million to pay 2,000 psychiatrists and primary care doctors to deliver 15,000 marketing lectures to their peers over the course of one year."

It seems that the company were able to find a loop hall in the law which states that "It is illegal to pay doctors to prescribe certain medicines to their patients," but "It is not illegal to pay doctors to educate their colleagues about a medicine."

Smart ones!
  1. groups:
    Community,   Health,   Max and Jason: Still Up,   Healthcare,   3 more
  2. tags:
    Health,  Drugs,  Pharmaceuticals,  Lexapro
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9 comments // Pharmaceutical Company "Paid" Doctors To Market Antidepressant "Lexapro"

  • maha_aba
    • 0
      maha_aba  

    • once again, nothing new, surprising, shocking, or abnormal. wrong, but not odd, many in this world choose wealthiness over righteousness.
      but i'm glad SOMEONE is divulging the truth.

    • 2 years ago
  • DreSandoval
  • 24French
  • hunzedog
  • biggranny
  • samthesixth
  • Muse13
    • 0
      Muse13  

    • A drug rep talks to a doctor to educate him on a drug , give the doctor coupons and free samples. The doctor then gives a prescription for the drug a coupon and or some samples to a patient. The patient goes home and takes the samples and thinks this stuff will work because my doctor said it will and it cant be that exspensive with my insurance and this coupon? The patient goes to a pharmacy to fill the perscription. The pharmacy trys to bill the drug to the insurance. The insurance says they dont cover this drug the pharmasist must call the doctor to change it or charge cash. The cash price is well over $200 and the coupon saves a one time only amount of $35. Now who makes the decisions about your health?

    • 2 years ago
  • kjs83
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  

    • Hey my brother just started taking this. He said it helped him quite a bit but then again his is the abnormal one in the family.

    • 2 years ago
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