Seroquel Lawsuit Blog

AstraZeneca Seroquel - The Miller Firm LLC & Saiontz & Kirk, P.A."You Had a Lawyer" more lies and deception related to the Seroquel Litigation - Feb. 2012 Update

2012-02-15T11:26:00.002-08:00

AstraZeneca Seroquel - The Miller Firm LLC & Saiontz & Kirk, P.A."You Had a Lawyer" more lies and deception related to the Seroquel Litigation - Feb. 2012 Update

This blog has received some emails requesting updated information regarding The Miller Firm's Seroquel Litigation. In prior post here & here, information was given by The Miller Firm that roughly 40% of injured parties have rejected the low ball & insulting settlement offer that has been presented to them. Making it resoundingly clear that The Miller Firm LLC will not come anywhere close to reaching the 93% settlement approval threshold needed to make this insulting low ball offer fly.

Yet, as in their usual seedy pattern of ignoring the clients they are supposedly representing; The Miller Firm is continuing to market this doomed settlement agreement in spite of the neon colored writing spray painted upon the wall "REJECTED".

So what is likely to happen going forward?

The Miller Firm LLC and (non-participating co-counsel Saiontz & Kirk, P.A.) have stated they have absolutely no intention of taking any cases to trial (and it's seems pretty clear by now that they never have intended to take any cases to trial; just settle quick & cash in).

On The Miller Firm updated phone recording dated Feb. 13th 2012; they stated they are supposedly having a conference call this week with the AstraZeneca lawyers to grovel/beg freeing up "money" for those who have signed onto this insulting low ball settlement offer; even though this goes directly against the stated terms of the actual settlement agreement offer that was sent out to The Miller Firm clients. So it now seems that only two options appear to be on the table & available! and AstraZeneca is holding the all the cards with both! (Who were injured parties taking to court to hold accountable for the injuries caused by AstraZeneca's direct unconscionable actions?)

1. AstraZeneca simply walks away from the settlement (knowing all to well that The Miller Firm LLC is not prepared & is assuredly unmotivated/unlikely to take a single case to trial) saving themselves approximating seven million dollars with little or no risk involved.

2. AstraZeneca decides to change the terms of the settlement & drop all approval percentage thresholds (I'm thinking the court would have to approve this move?) & clear the slate of potential future litigation with roughly 6 out of 10 Miller Firm Litigants.

It has become crystal clear that getting straight and honest answers from The Miller Firm LLC is pretty much impossible. They again have misrepresented themselves & have been shown to be liars by not following through on what they told their client last week.

What we can be fairly certain about from these self serving & dishonest ambulance chasers at The Miller Firm LLC....is the client dump is surely coming. It is not a matter of "IF"...just a matter of when & how many (it could be all of their Seroquel clients, or it could be 40%+, depending upon AstraZeneca & the courts).

Update Feb 21, 2012: information provided on the Seroquel update phone recording at the Miller Firm LLC dated Feb. 20, 2012 stated that per phone conference on Feb 16, 2012 with representatives of AstraZeneca, that they are NOT releasing any funds to The Miller Firm LLC. The requirements of the settlement terms have not been met.

What the Miller is not providing their clients: is what further demands is AstraZeneca asking for now. It has become beyond clear at the this juncture, that the 93% approval needed to make this settlement fly is not going to happen ever.

Isn't it about time The Miller Firm LLC started being open & honest with those they are supposed to represent! This settlement as it stands is "DEAD & BURIED". The injured parties are once again asking for simple & straight forward answers from the Miller Firm. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? Move forward to court with Seroquel cases, or are you going to kick all of your clients to the curb...

If anyone reading would like to weigh in on this topic, or has pertinent information they would like to share, or has information about Law Firms that are interested in taking on & ethically representing discarded Seroquel injured parties cases; please leave a comment or send this blog an email.

AstraZeneca Seroquel - The Miller Firm LLC & Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. "You Had a Lawyer" to begin mass client dump in Seroquel Litigation

2012-02-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

AstraZeneca Seroquel - The Miller Firm LLC & Saiontz & Kirk, P.A."You Had a Lawyer" to begin mass client dump in Seroquel Litigation

In Yesterdays posting here 40% of Injured Seroquel Claimants Reject Settlement a regular anonymous source passed along new information that The Miller Firm had placed on their Seroquel update recording. It appears The Miller Firm is in the process of groveling & begging at AstraZeneca's criminal feet to "Show Them the Money" even though a very large percentage (40% or more, or an estimated 250+ of the 600+ injured parties) of the clients they are supposedly representing have unequivocally rejected the token settlement offer (that was a mere fraction of what other firms had offered in this same litigation for the same injuries) that has been presented to them.

This morning I had continued correspondence with an anonymous source who stated after repeating attempts to contact Saiontz & Kirk,P.A. to no avail (which they had originally agreed to be their representation in the Seroquel Litigation), they instead received a call from a representative of the The Miller Firm. My source stated that they were told that The Miller Firm was in the process of working with AstraZeneca to hopefully finalize this token agreement with those who had signed onto the much ballyhooed & promoted settlement process even though they have fallen far short of the 93% approval threshold which was agreed upon in those now notorious secret settlement negotiations.

The Miller Firm representative stated that there would be "NO" renegotiation of settlement terms or would any cases be further litigated or brought to trial. The Miller Firm representative stated that those that had not signed onto the settlement would be sent letters stating they were no longer represented by The Miller Firm or co-counsel in this litigation some undetermined time down the road?

Upon receiving this response; my source pressed further on this issue of The Miller Firm & non-participating co-counsel Saiontz & Kirk (While clarifying and reiterating that The Miller Firm had clearly stated that they were not renegotiating terms, not taking a single case any further in this litigation, were ignoring received appeals, and were well aware that this settlement has been without any doubt REJECTED by their client); The Miller Firm representative then capitulated by stating that a letter would be going out by mail within a week stating that The Miller Firm & Saiontz & Kirk would be withdrawing from their legal representation in the Seroquel Litigation.

So after years of waiting patiently and much long suffering, this is what 250+ injured clients (40%) will receive from these firms in return for innocently entrusting these unethical, rude, secretive, shady, & solely self serving law firms with their well evidenced injury cases.

One can only surmise that by using The Miller Firm rejection numbers as an example; there are quite possibly many thousands of injured Seroquel litigants seeking representation & their promised right of their day in court. The fact is that this litigation is far from over; it's only just beginning - even though AstraZeneca appears to be telling their share holders a very different story in a newly released quarterly report here --> PharmaGossip astrazeneca-seroquel-legal-update.

If there are any reputable law firms still remaining in America that wish too or are interested in representing the possibly thousands of injured Seroquel parties that have either been discarded or have not been able to find legal representation in either pertinent legal malpractice claims against these unscrupulous law firms and/or to proceed with the Seroquel injury litigation against AstraZeneca; please feel free to leave that information in the comment section here, or send along an email to the SeroquelLawSuitBlog@gmail.com.

AstraZeneca's Seroquel diabetes lawsuit is not over: Miller Firm didn't make the 93% needed for settlement

2012-02-01T22:39:00.000-08:00

If you thought the AstraZeneca diabetes lawsuit settlement was a done deal, think again.

The Miller Firm has not met the required percentage of Claimants necessary to settle the lawsuits for the 623 clients represented by the Miller Firm, LLC

93% required for settlement

The Garretson Resolution Group page 3 document shown above specifically states that if more than 7% of Miller Firm claimants DO NOT WANT TO SETTLE, THEN ASTRAZENECA HAS THE OPTION TO WITHDRAW THE ENTIRE SETTLEMENT AMOUNT OF: $ 6,986,913.73

Garretson Resolution Group, Inc.

Page 3 shown above also states that if more than 7% of Miller Claimants do not want to settle, and AstraZeneca withdraws the $6 million dollar settlement offer, the attorneys can choose to proceed with litigation. That is what should have happened in the first place! Miller Firm and others representing over 26,000 clients who were injured by the antipsychotic Seroquel deserve more than a chump change settlement offer by a billion dollar pharmaceutical corporation that spent millions on defense. The evidence is stacked with proof that AstraZeneca hid and buried studies and data, illegally marketed the drug, was fined by the Dept of Justice--the list goes on and on--Study 15 was buried, in case you wondered why you got fat on Seroquel! the drug company knew this information and with intent to sell and profit, did so at the expense of innocent patients. These patients deserve their days in court!

February 2012

The Miller Firm LLC telephone recording states that they have received 60% of their claimant percentage necessary to comply with the settlement terms; which means that 40% of Miller Claimants DO NOT WANT TO SETTLE, and the Miller Firm is no where near the 93% required by AstraZeneca for settlement, as a matter of fact, due to having over 7% of claimants NOT settling, AstraZeneca can now TAKE THEIR MONEY AND WALK AWAY.

Where does this leave the claimants? Miller Firm states on the recording that they are attempting to negotiate settling the claims of those who agreed to settle, with AstraZeneca, and close the cases of those who did not want to settle.

Will the Miller Firm walk away from their own clients? will the Miller Firm swiftly dump the clients that rejected the offer, or failed to send the packet back? There was no option to reject the offer, it was take it or leave it, appeal it or keep the settlement packet for bird cage liner.

The Miller Firm is a case file gatherer, a law firm that takes large amounts of cases and settles for a quick buck, never really representing individual clients. The bell of justice won't ring for the 623 clients of the Miller Firm. It won't ring for the 26,000 injured people. AstraZeneca wins when they lose, and the patient loses over and over again. A life time disability is what they got from taking the antipsychotic Seroquel, along with a life time of angst and an ever-revolving merry-go-round of personal hell, without an end in sight. Insult to injury.

When you read Bloomberg from August 2010 with a headline like this :

"AstraZeneca to Pay $198 Million for Seroquel Lawsuits"

Just remember, the Fat Lady hasn't sung yet.

AstraZeneca Seroquel - a father's anguish - Government killed his son by way of prescription pad

2012-01-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

Via PharmaGossip

A father’s anguish: Military killed my son with prescription pad | The Daily Caller

A father who has lost two sons to war told The Daily Caller that the U.S. Central Command’s policy of allowing troops to deploy with a 180-day supply of the antipsychotic Seroquel has contributed to the deaths of troops and veterans. Seroquel, he said, has tragic side effects that military leaders have ignored in their quest to combat insomnia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among fighting men and women.

The father, West Virginia school principal Stan White, said there are better ways to treat troops and veterans who suffer from PTSD. But because the maker of Seroquel, London-based AstraZeneca, has so much influence over Congress and the military, he insisted, that peer counseling and other treatment options are being shoved aside in favor of low doses of the drug.

White’s suspicions are slowly being validated by a series of studies, legal settlements, and military rulings — including a recommendation from the Department of Defense’s own advisory body on pharmaceuticals.

“I think AstraZeneca is so strong and has so much power that no one can speak out,” said White, who has remained stoic despite his losses. “Money talks. I truly believe AstraZeneca and other big pharma companies have control over Congress.”

His first son, Army Sgt. Robert White, died in combat in Iraq. When Robert’s younger brother Andrew returned from his own tour in the Middle Eastern country, a Veterans Administration doctor prescribed a combination of Seroquel and antidepressants for his PTSD.

Andrew died at home, and the state of West Virginia ruled that an accidental medication overdose was to blame.

But his father believes the “dangerous” pill cocktail killed him. And he told TheDC that he has identified 300 other soldiers and veterans who died from sudden cardiac arrest while taking Seroquel and antidepressants in combination.

Evidence supporting his theory has continued to accumulate, including a September 2011 study from the European Society of Cardiology which linked the “combined use of antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs” with an increased risk of sudden heart attacks.

Seroquel has been on the market since 1997, and in that time doctors have widely experimented with prescribing it for “off-label” purposes that the FDA has not approved. The drug, a mood stabilizer, is approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but it has also been used to treat insomnia in Parkinson’s disease patients, dementia in adults of all ages, and a variety of disorders in children.

Doctors have free rein to prescribe medications for off-label uses, and the FDA’s ever-growing avalanche of advisories sometimes makes it difficult for physicians to know what has been approved and what has not.

A 2009 University of Chicago national survey of physicians, for instance, found that one in eight doctors thought Seroquel was approved for treating dementia, even though the FDA had issued a specific warning against it.

Drug marketers, however, are forbidden to promote their products for any purpose not approved by the FDA.

In April 2010 AstraZeneca conceded that it had crossed that line, agreeing to pay the U.S. government $520 million to settle claims related to its illegal promotion of Seroquel for off-label uses.

Read the rest of this disturbing & important article by clicking on links below
NEXT: A massive increase in government spending on Seroquel
NEXT: AstraZeneca's $32.6 million lobby shop

Cash Rich AstraZeneca pacifying stock holders with 5bn dollar buy back, while continuing criminal business as usual

2012-01-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

Cash Rich AstraZeneca pacifying stock holders with 5 bn dollar buy back, while continuing their criminal business as usual model. If you haven't gotten the message by now, AstraZeneca has bought some powerful friends in very high places within our government. Especially when you look at the puny amounts they have paid in fines to walk away unscathed from a throng of unconscionable crimes without admitting any guilt or wrong doing; and then went on to pay even less to those persons health & lives they have destroyed or ended by their unsafe products and unscrupulous business practices. You only can just begin to fathom the depth of greed and conspired evil intent involved in this elitist masquerade that has been perpetrated against the citizens of America, and others from around the world.

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From The Independent

A hugely cash generative business, AstraZeneca has been keeping investors happy over the past two years by purchasing $2.1bn of shares in 2010 and around $4bn in 2011. The group will confirm another round of share buybacks in its full-year results this week, with the consensus expectation $3bn and analysts at UBS expecting as much as $5bn.

Savvas Neophytou, analyst at Panmure Gordon, said he had a "conservative" forecast – this still came to $1.5bn – as he felt that AstraZeneca might hold back some cash for acquisitions. He added: "The

share buyback programme will be extended for sure. There are also a number of opportunities for the company to invest in."

However, AstraZeneca, whose chief executive is David Brennan, right, has faced some disappointments recently in its drug pipeline. For example, its latest blockbuster drug (those likely to have sales of more than $1bn) is expected to be the diabetes treatment Dapagliflozin, but the US Food and Drug Administration has demanded more clinical trials before giving approval. The UBS analysts expect fourth-quarter sales to be fractionally down on the previous year at $8.611bn.

Michael Mitchell, healthcare analyst at Seymour Pierce, said that there was a "question over whether a better use of money" would be investing in new drugs or buying companies with strong research and development records.

Ohio doctor wrote nine AstraZeneca Seroquel prescriptions per hour . Senator targeting big prescribers

2012-01-27T20:44:00.000-08:00

Have you ever happened to wonder how a drug that was designed & originally approved to treat less than 1% of the population & was shown no better than drugs already in the market place becomes one of the most prescribed drugs on the planet. Or how a drug with hidden deadly side effects, that was marketed off label, and had damning clinical studies buried from the public & consumers becomes a multi-billion dollar a year blockbuster profit money tree for Big Pharma; while @ the same time defrauding American tax payers & our medicare/medicaid system of many billions of dollars. You don't need to look much further than this eye opening piece of the puzzle highlighted in the following report by ProPublica.

From Propublica

Senate Watchdog Targets High-Prescribing Medicaid Docs

by Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber
ProPublica, Jan. 24, 2012, 2:04 p.m.

An influential U.S. senator is grilling officials in nearly three-dozen states, demanding to know how they are cracking down on physicians who prescribe massive amounts of potentially dangerous prescription drugs.

Iowa Republican Charles Grassley sent letters to 34 states Monday asking what steps they had taken to investigate doctors whose prescribing of antipsychotics, anti-anxiety drugs and painkillers to Medicaid patients far exceeds that of their peers.

The request is a follow-up to a 2010 letter Grassley sent all states that requested statistics on top prescribers of these drugs.

“These types of drugs have addictive properties, and the potential for fraud and abuse by prescribers and patients is extremely high,” Grassley wrote in Monday’s letters. “When these drugs are prescribed to Medicaid patients, it is the American people who pay the price for over-prescription, abuse, and fraud.”

ProPublica reported in November that Florida allowed at least three physicians to keep treating and prescribing drugs to the poor amid clear signs of possible misconduct. One doctor kept prescribing narcotic pain pills to Medicaid patients for more than a year after he was arrested and charged in 2010 with trafficking in them.

A number of the top-prescribing Medicaid doctors around the country are listed in our Dollars for Docs database of payments made by 12 pharmaceutical companies to physicians for speaking and consulting Medicaid, jointly funded by the states and federal government, provides health care coverage to about 60 million low-income enrollees.

Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has long argued for greater transparency in health care. The painkillers and mental health drugs Grassley is inquiring about are among the top drivers of Medicaid drug spending.

His letter to Ohio notes that the top prescriber of the anti-psychotic Abilify wrote 13,825 prescriptions in 2009 — about 54 prescriptions per weekday. Ohio paid $6.7 million for that those prescriptions, state officials reported to Grassley.

The biggest prescriber of another anti-psychotic, Seroquel, wrote 18,890 scripts at a cost of $5.7 million. Grassley wrote the tally would amount to nine prescriptions per hour. When Ohio submitted the data to Grassley last year, it did not identify the doctors by name or license number.

“After an extensive review of prescribing habits of the serial prescribers of pain and mental-health drugs in Ohio, I have concerns about the oversight and enforcement of Medicaid abuse in your state,” he wrote. “While I am sensitive to the concerns of misinterpretation of the data you provided, the numbers themselves are quite shocking.”

Grassley’s letter to Maine cites a physician who wrote 1,867 prescriptions for the powerful painkiller OxyContin in 2009, nearly double the second-highest prescriber. The doctor also wrote 1,723 prescriptions for another painkiller, Roxicodone, nearly three times as many as the next highest prescriber.

Calls to officials in Ohio and Maine have not been returned.

In his letters to the 34 states, Grassley asked that officials tell him by Feb. 13 what action, if any, they have taken against top prescribers, whether those doctors are still eligible to bill Medicaid, whether any of the doctors were referred to their state medical boards for investigation, and what systems have been set up to track possibly excessive prescribing, among others.

Grassley is sending letters to 12 other states that never provided him data, as requested, on their top Medicaid prescribers. Four other states will not receive follow-up letters because the senator felt their initial responses to his 2010 letter were adequate.

ProPublica reported in November that since Grassley’s initial letter requesting the data in 2010, Louisiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and New York have kicked some high-prescribing physicians out of Medicaid. California has temporarily suspended or placed restrictions on 15 to 20 doctors in the past two years for prescribing disproportionately high volumes of painkillers and antipsychotics to Medicaid patients.

But Grassley said more needs to be done.

“When a doctor writes more prescriptions than seems humanly possible, it makes sense to ask questions,” he said in a statement to ProPublica. The statement noted that some states never responded to his original letter in 2010.

“If state and federal taxpayers are being cheated because of inappropriate prescriptions,” Grassley said, “the state and federal governments have to get to the bottom of it and stop it.”

UPDATE: J&J Risperdal - TEXAS "TMAP" TRIAL "GUILTY" - Settles for Chump Change - AstraZeneca Seroquel Next?

2012-01-19T08:09:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: J&J Risperdal anti-psychotic drug - TEXAS TMAP TRIAL "GUILTY" then settles for chump change while admitting to no liability or fault - corporate crime pays very well - will AstraZeneca & Seroquel be next?

Incredible & Shocking news out of Texas this morning, as a settlement is reached in the J&J TMAP Risperdal trial. J&J has made a estimated 28+ billion dollars on this drug and the energizer profit bunny is still going & going....J&J hid harmful side effects, buried damning studies, lied, lied some more, marketed the drug off label illegally to children, paid off government officials, and so much more.....& what happens....no one goes to prison, just some meaningless cost of doing business fines or settlements...and the crimes and corporate raping of America and society continues unabated....what went on in this backroom deal?...this goes way beyond not smelling right...why didn't the jury have an opportunity to make a rational judgement based on the evidence & reach a verdict?

I sincerely hope people get angry, sick, & tired of these backroom deals, subversion of our justice system, and the elitist corporate power brokering when it comes to these crimes that have destroyed countless victims lives…where is their justice? The answer to that question; There is none

SO WHAT HAS REALLY CHANGED? I suspect, very little….so very little indeed…

I invite you to read the real story & tragedy behind TMAP - this is what J&J, AstraZeneca, Lilly, & BMS actually did to countless thousands & thousands of children...the victims don't get to just walk away unscathed while profiteering beyond imagination...All of America should feel ashamed today...the Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott should look in the mirror and see the people he is supposed to represent...he should go personally to witness the carnage...visit with the victims...instead of making amiable political backroom deals with criminal corporations...shameful doesn't begin to tell this story..

from motherjones.com - Medicating Aliah

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Latest Update highlights from the Washingtonpost Thursday, January 19, 2:09 PM

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary settles Texas lawsuit over anti-psychotic drug for $158 million

By Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas and a subsidiary of health care giant Johnson & Johnson reached a $158 million settlement in a Medicaid fraud lawsuit Thursday, allowing the drugmaker to pay a fraction of the potential $1 billion in penalties and fines that state officials had initially sought.

The lawsuit was one of dozens of state and federal cases alleging that the company committed fraud by making false or misleading statements about the safety, cost and effectiveness of the expensive anti-psychotic medication Risperdal, and improperly influencing officials and doctors to push the drug.

Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., one of the J&J subsidiaries that had been sued, said in a statement it will pay the money to fully resolve all claims in Texas. The company said it is not admitting any liability or fault with the settlement.

But analysts called the $158 million figure a victory for J&J, which made billions off Risperdal, because the deal allowed the company to avoid a much larger verdict in a state with a reputation as an easy place to win big jury awards.

The settlement also is far less than the $327 million Johnson & Johnson recently was ordered to pay in South Carolina and the $258 million it was ordered to pay in Louisiana in Risperdal lawsuits.
“For Johnson & Johnson, it’s a mighty easy result,” said Eric Gordon, a clinical professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “The legal team at Johnson & Johnson are doing high fives.”

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UPDATE:

from marketwatch

J&J to pay $158 million to settle Risperdal case

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit said Thursday it has reached a settlement with the State of Texas under which it will pay $158 million "in full resolution of all claims" in litigation over its antipsychotic drug Risperdal. The deal will cover claims brought by the state in 2004 for Medicaid overpayment from 1994 to 2008 "and will circumvent potentially lengthy and costly appellate activities," the company said. Sharing in the money will be the original plaintiff, his attorneys, the state of Texas and the federal government. Shares of Johnson & Johnson JNJ -0.32% were down about 1% in morning action.

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from 1 Boring Old Man blog

speaking of nails in the coffin…

Posted on Thursday 19 January 2012

Update 10:20 AM: I just got this email from Austin: "I wanted to let you know that a settlement is being announced this morning in Austin. I have no additional details right now, but should learn more later today."

Update 10:40 AM: PHARMALOT TWITTER: Johnson & Johnson to settle charges brought by Texas AG of illegally promoting Risperdal: sources.. announcement due shortly…

Update :

J&J Said to Settle Texas Risperdal Anti-Psychotic Drug Case
Bloomberg
By Jef Feeley and Margaret Cronin Fisk
January 19, 2012, 10:23 AM EST

Johnson & Johnson agreed to settle Texas officials’ claims that the drugmaker fraudulently marketed its Risperdal anti-psychotic drug and end a trial over the allegations, people familiar with the case said. The settlement will be announced in court today, the people said.

SIDE NOTE: The comment section should be buzzing with excellent feedback well worth reading...

**updates to this post will be done as information becomes available**

Nenad Borojević, former head of the Institute of Radiology and Oncology in Belgrade & The Doctor at the center of AstraZeneca's Bribery & Violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was found hanging in a forest

2012-01-12T20:49:00.000-08:00

Nenad Borojević, former head of the Institute of Radiology and Oncology in Belgrade & The Doctor at the center of AstraZeneca's Bribery & Violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was found hanging in a forest.

We haven't heard much new news related to the foreign bribery allegations & violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act regarding AstraZeneca since Nov. 2011. So this news coming out of Serbia appears to be straight out of a John Grisham Novel. We have a Huge Multinational Corporation, Bribery, Corruption, and now a principle Doctor @ the center of the allegations found hanging in the forest. There has to be a very dark and seedy under belly to this story that has yet to be revealed. Makes even a hardened Cynic begin to wonder?

also @ b92 BELGRADE -- The family of former director of the Serbian Institute of Oncology and Radiology Nenad Borojević "still does not believe that he had taken his own life".

Doctor accused of cancer drugs fraud

commits suicide

Via b92
01/11/2012

Nenad Borojević, former head of the Institute of Radiology and Oncology in Belgrade, was found hanged in a forest in the city's Košutnjak neighborhood, it was announced.

According to reports, he committed suicide.

It was announced that the police would release a statement detailing the suicide, "and its motives".

Borojević was undergoing trial, but was released from custody for the duration of the court process. He was forbidden to leave his place of residence and was fitted with an electronic surveillance bracelet to monitor his movements.

Borojević and eight others were facing justice accused of, from 2007 until 2009, colluding with pharmaceutical companies to supply them in advance with information on the amount of needed cytostatic drugs, and on public procurement plans for the purchase of the said medication.

At the start of the trial, Borojević denied that he accepted bribes from the companies, and also rejected the prosecution's claim that he headed the group that rigged tenders called to purchase cancer treatment drugs.

The anti-corruption case was tried by the Special Court in Belgrade. Among those accused was the former head of the Pediatric Oncology Ward of the Institute, Zoran Bekić.

IM: Death of ex-Oncology Institute head was suicide

Source: Tanjug Thursday 12.01.2012 | 20:29

BELGRADE -- The family of former director of the Serbian Institute of Oncology and Radiology Nenad Borojević "still does not believe that he had taken his own life".

A file photo of Nenad Borojević

This is despite a statement on Thursday by Interior Minister Ivica Dačić, who said that "the first analysis point to suicide".

Borojević was found dead, hanging from a tree in a forest-park in Belgrade.

Marko Kastratović, one of Borojević's lawyers, told Tanjug on Thursday that the family had not yet received a police report about his death, or a report by the investigating judge and they did not believe he had killed himself.

“Everything is still open to doubt, and there also are some new circumstances that I cannot speak about at the moment, because it rests with the family to decide. They will decide whether and when to disclose the information to the public,” said Kastratović.

Dačić said earlier today that the investigation into the Borojević's death in Košutnjak was underway and that the body had been sent for autopsy, but the first analysis indicated that he had committed suicide.

However, while the criminal proceedings against Borojević have now been annulled, the proceedings concerning forfeiture of property suspected to have been acquired through criminal acts will be continued against his successors.

Before his death, Borojević was on trial before the Belgrade special court, on charges of unlawfully acquiring RSD 11.2mn through malpractices in connection with procurement of cancer treatment drugs.

He was granted provisional release pending trial with the prohibition of leaving Belgrade and was wearing electronic bracelets by way of which his movements were monitored.

The Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime charged Borojević and another eight defendants with making illegal arrangements with officials of pharmaceutical companies concerning getting information about the consumption of cytostatics and the relevant public procurement procedures in advance.
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Background Story:

November 2011

AstraZeneca Indicted In Serbia For Alleged Bribery

http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2011/11/07/astrazeneca-indicted-in-serbia-for-alleged-bribery/

AstraZeneca PLC said Monday in a securities filing that it was criminally indicted in Serbia for alleged bribery.

: Drago Prvulovic/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images; The sign of the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is pictured at the plant in Lund, Sweden, on March 2, 2010.

The indictment, which according to the filing was served in August, accuses local AstraZeneca employees of having “made allegedly improper payments to physicians” at the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia.

In the filing, the company said it has filed a number of procedural motions to dismiss the charges.

“We intend to vigorously defend the matter and have filed a number of pending preliminary procedural objections that ask the Serbian criminal court to dismiss the indictment,” Tony Jewell, an AstraZeneca spokesman, said in an email. “This case is still in preliminary stages, so we are not in a position, at this time to comment further or to predict the outcome.”

The disclosure was made when AstraZeneca reported third-quarter earnings on Oct. 27; the Financial Times reported it (sub req) at the time. Monday’s filing, the 6-K required of foreign issuers, was a bundle of press releases made by the company during October.

Last year, the director of the Institute—as well as several others, including a business unit manager in AstraZeneca’s Belgrade office—were arrested in an alleged bribery scheme that involved favoring some pharmaceutical companies’ products when purchasing cancer-treatment medicine.

The pharmaceutical industry is already staring at an industry-wide probe in the U.S. into alleged foreign bribery. AstraZeneca was one of several companies that disclosed it was being investigated for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars companies and individuals from bribing foreign officials to get or keep business.

Johnson & Johnson settled in April, agreeing to pay $70 million to U.S. authorities. In itslatest annual report, AstraZeneca said it’s cooperating with U.S. authorities on the probe, and it couldn’t predict the scope, duration or outcome of the investigation.

(Correction: The highest-ranking person AstraZeneca person arrested was a business unit manager, not the head of the Belgrade office.)

The Texas J&J Risperdal Trial Begins - just the tip of the criminal TMAP & Teen-Screen iceberg

2012-01-11T09:14:00.000-08:00

The Texas J&J Risperdal Trial Begins - just the tip of the TMAP & TeenScreen iceberg

1 Boring Old Man blog has been writing with unbridled enthusiasm and dogged persistence about the pharmaceutical industry criminal collusion & corruption that has enveloped & consumed psychiatry, medicine, research, & scholastic institutions over the past several decades. This past week he informed his readers he was off to Texas to bear witness to the coined "TMAP Trial" for himself.

I strongly suggest you take the time to read Mickey's blog to become informed and empowered by the wisdom and knowledge he generously gifts the reader. He has invited us all to share his ring side seat to quite possibly one of the most important social policy trials of our times.

A background to the TMAP Journey...

evidence-based medicine I…
evidence-based medicine III: DSM III and later…
the singapore sojourn? ask Alice…
STAR*D: too important to ignore…
personalized medicine: the preface…
algorithmic psychiatry – the rise…
algorithmic psychiatry – the fall…
algorithmic psychiatry – so little, so badly…
algorithmic psychiatry – the algorithms…
revolution II…
coming this month: TMAP finally goes on trial…
TMAP: a devil in this machine…
TMAP: they knew…
eyes on Texas…
TMAP revived…
TMAP handout…
1999...
what the thunder said…
detestable…
a connection…
speaking of about time…
- Daniel Rothman Expert Report
- Jones v. Janssen Amended Complaint
- Janssen Payments to TMAP
- TMAP donations by donor
- Janssen payments to UT and State
- Decision Makers and Disclosures

Of course we know that the J&J Risperdal trial highlighted in this post & below is just one small piece of a much larger and darker puzzle of targeted malfeasance for profit by one of the most powerful industries in the world today. This is simply one more step in a long & arduous journey toward bringing back some integrity and justice to America; and our once trusted; yet now hopelessly lost & corrupted health care system.

State attorney general sued drug company
^{Abbott: state paid excessively to Johnson & Johnson for Risperdal}
Austin Statesman
By Tim Eaton
Jan.8, 2012
^{Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is pitted against one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies in a trial starting this week that could bring the state more than $1 billion one of its largest potential awards since a multibillion-dollar tobacco settlement in 1998. Abbott is charging that Johnson & Johnson Inc., its wholly owned subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical LLC and five other related companies defrauded the state in a "sophisticated marketing scheme" that caused the Texas Medicaid Program to pay too much for Janssen’s schizophrenia drug Risperdal, the lawsuit says. The state also questions the companies’ marketing practices and alleges that the companies misled state health officials about the drug’s effectiveness, the risk of side effects and its suitability for pediatric use. The trial is scheduled to begin 9 a.m. today in Judge John Dietz’s 250th state District Court in Travis County…}
^{Texas got involved with Risperdal litigation about six years ago, when Abbott’s office joined a lawsuit filed by corporate whistle-blower Allen Jones, who is a former employee of the office of the inspector general of Pennsylvania. Jones has questioned the process for how Risperdal was approved in Texas and how that information was used by other states in their approval processes. Jones filed suit in 2004 after his investigation in Pennsylvania led him to examine the companies’ track record in Texas. As a whistle-blower plaintiff, he alleged that the companies overcharged the states and overstated the drug’s effectiveness…}
^{The lawsuit says that Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries employed suspect tactics in order to sell Risperdal in the public sector, which promised to be especially lucrative. Eighty-five percent of Risperdal’s revenue was projected to come from the public sector, because schizophrenic adults tend to be poor and uninsured. "Understanding the need to obtain significant government buy-in to achieve their financial goals for Risperdal, defendants set their sights on a state with one of the largest Medicaid populations in the country — Texas," according to the filing by the state and Jones. But getting a state like Texas to put a drug on a list of preferred medications — which the companies ultimately accomplished — can be a tremendous undertaking.}
^{The lawsuit discusses the challenge for the companies to persuade decision-makers in Texas’ public medical agencies to make the move — despite what it said was evidence that the drug is more expensive and no more effective than older medications, the state and Jones say in their lawsuit. Johnson & Johnson and the related companies even created a special business unit called the Public Health Systems and Reimbursement Department designed to push the drug in the public sector, the lawsuit says. The companies also had to navigate the Texas Medicaid Program’s cost-savings measures, and to do so the companies employed a campaign that included misrepresentations about the drug’s effectiveness and superiority over other drugs, the state alleges.}
^{The state’s case outlines allegations of kickbacks — "money going directly to key decision-makers," the lawsuit says — paid more than a decade ago to several doctors employed by the state’s Health and Human Services Commission to give Risperdal preference over other antipsychotic drugs. Jones’ lawsuit claims that Risperdal became part of the treatment plan because of the drug companies’ "improper influence" over Dr. Steven Shon, the former medical director for behavioral health at the Department of State Health Services. Shon had served as a paid Janssen consultant and traveled the country promoting the Texas plan… Jones’ legal team also charged that the company perfected its marketing skills in Texas before reaching out to the other states in which it pushed for expanded Risperdal prescriptions…}

AstraZeneca Seroquel - More evidence tying Seroquel use to the development of Diabetes and related conditions

2012-01-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

AstraZeneca Seroquel - More evidence tying Seroquel use to the development of Diabetes and related conditions

A new abstract has been published once again showing the direct correlation between the use of anti-psychotic drugs and the onset of diabetes & related conditions (causation). Of course, we know from some of the very limited public release of AstraZeneca internal documents related to the Seroquel litigation; that AstraZeneca was well aware of these inherent adverse health risks related to Seroquel long ago ( background here astrazeneca-suppressed-drug-test-data ) , but instead of conducting further investigation and studies into these damaging and deadly relevant risk factors; they chose to bury the adverse data instead, and then turn Seroquel over to their marketing/sales department to make it the multi-billion dollar a year block buster it eventually became.

In fact, the main hang up that has been so publicly touted in the Seroquel Litigation is that the plaintiff law firms haven't provided accepted expert medical testimony that Seroquel is a leading contributor to the onset of diabetes and related conditions to the court. That appears to be no longer a significant problem considering the new dear doctor letter and studies showing the connection conclusively.

Studies have already shown that atypical anti-psychotics (Seroquel) have a much higher risk for metabolic disorders than the older anti-psychotics drugs (abstract of study here -> Atypical Antipsychotic Drugs and Diabetes Mellitus in the US Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Database : Conclusions: In the AERS database, lower associations with DRAEs were seen for haloperidol, aripiprazole and ziprasidone, and higher associations were seen for olanzapine, risperidone, clozapine and quetiapine. Our findings support differential risk of diabetes across atypical anti-psychotics, reinforcing the need for metabolic monitoring of patients taking anti-psychotics.).

Yet, this newest study that isn't even differentiating between older anti-psychotics and the newer atypical anti-psychotics is showing a more significant correlation between the use of these drugs and the onset or development of diabetes and related conditions. ( you can reasonably imagine if they had only conducted this study using a-typical anti-psychotic drugs, the prevalence numbers would be much higher than are being portrayed in the abstract below) . This is vitally important health information that has been buried for far to long from the public and users of these drugs.

The evidence is now showing that no longer can greedy pharmaceutical giants like AstraZeneca hide the reality of what they have done. There is no longer any doubt that they placed profits before patient safety in one of the most detestable crimes of our times. No more excuses, injured parties demand trials, they demand no more hidden secrets, no more backroom pay to play deals...the injured parties and the public have a right to know, & they have a right to justice.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From The Journal Of Clinical Psychiatry

Prediabetes in Patients Treated With Antipsychotic Drugs

Peter Manu, Christoph Correll, Ruud van Winkel, Martien Wampers, and Marc De Hert

[Abstract] [Full Text] Posted 12/27/11

Prediabetes in Patients Treated With Antipsychotic Drugs

Prediabetes in Patients Treated With Antipsychotic Drugs

Peter Manu, MD; Christoph Correll, MD; Ruud van Winkel, MD, PhD; Martien Wampers, PhD; and Marc De Hert, MD, PhD

J Clin Psychiatry

10.4088/JCP.10m06822

Background: In 2010, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) proposed that individuals with fasting glucose level of 100–125 mg/dL (5.6–6.9 mmol/L) or glucose level of 140–199 mg/dL (7.8–11.0 mmol/L) 2 hours after a 75-g oral glucose tolerance test or hemoglobin A1c 5.7%–6.4% be classified as prediabetic, indicating increased risk for the emergence of diabetes mellitus. At the same time, the ADA formulated guidelines for the use of metformin for the treatment of prediabetes.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of prediabetes in a cohort of psychiatrically ill adults receiving antipsychotics and to compare the clinical and metabolic features of prediabetic patients with those of patients with normal glucose tolerance and those with diabetes mellitus.

Method: The 2010 ADA criteria were applied to a large, consecutive, single-site European cohort of 783 adult psychiatric inpatients (mean age: 37.6 years) without a history of diabetes who were receiving antipsychotics. All patients in this cross-sectional study underwent measurement of body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, oral glucose tolerance test, and fasting insulin and lipids from November 2003 through July 2007.

Results: 413 patients (52.8%) had normal glucose tolerance, 290 (37.0%) had prediabetes, and 80 (10.2%) had diabetes mellitus. The fasting glucose and/or hemoglobin A1c criteria were met by 89.7% of prediabetic patients. A statistically significant intergroup gradient from normal glucose tolerance to prediabetes and from prediabetes to diabetes mellitus was observed for waist circumference, triglycerides, fasting insulin levels, and frequency of metabolic syndrome (P = .02 to P < .0001). Only 19/290 prediabetic patients (6.6%) met the 2010 ADA criteria for treatment with metformin.

Conclusions: Prediabetes is highly prevalent in adults treated with antipsychotic drugs and correlates with markers of increased intraabdominal adiposity, enhanced lipolysis, and insulin resistance. Criteria for using metformin to prevent the emergence of diabetes mellitus may need to be revised for this population.

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Or we can continue to do nothing...allow corporate greed to go unchecked, and have our population do the above instead

AstraZeneca Seroquel - NEW DEAR DOCTOR WARNING LETTER - Dec. 2011 - but wasn't their litigation defense based on their claim that Seroquel doesn't cause diabetes?

2012-01-05T11:15:00.000-08:00

AstraZeneca Seroquel - NEW DEAR DOCTOR WARNING LETTER - Dec. 2011 - but wasn't AstraZeneca's litigation defense based on their dubious claim that Seroquel doesn't cause diabetes?

From the MHRA gov.uk.

Seroquel (quietapine) - 23 December 2011
Information on weight gain, hyperglycaemia, and metabolic risk (208Kb)

Dear Doctor

Re: quetiapine and quetiapine prolonged release Summary Product Characteristics update
We are continuously monitoring the safety of our products and the Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPC) is updated frequently to accommodate the most up to date information regarding our products. Section 4.4 Special Warnings and Precautions of the quetiapine and quetiapine prolonged release SmPCs was updated recently to reflect the most up to date information on weight gain, hyperglycaemia and metabolic risk.

In agreement with the MHRA, AstraZeneca is providing the following information to prescribers to highlight the labelling text relating to metabolic parameters. We have also added a citation for guidelines on how to monitor patients that are taking atypical antipsychotics in line with good practice as recommended by MHRA.

Update to information in the “Special warnings and precautions” section of the label on weight gain, hyperglycaemia and metabolic risk:

Weight:
Weight gain has been reported in patients who have been treated with quetiapine, and should be monitored and managed as clinically appropriate as in accordance with utilised antipsychotic guidelines*.

Hyperglycaemia:
Hyperglycaemia and/or development or exacerbation of diabetes occasionally associated with ketoacidosis or coma has been reported rarely, including some fatal cases (see section 4.8). In some cases, a prior increase in body weight has been reported which may be a predisposing factor. Appropriate clinical monitoring is advisable in accordance with utilised antipsychotic guidelines. Patients treated with any antipsychotic agent including quetiapine, should be observed for signs and symptoms of hyperglycaemia, (such as polydipsia, polyuria, polyphagia and weakness) and patients with diabetes mellitus or with risk factors for diabetes mellitus should be monitored regularly for worsening of glucose control. Weight should be monitored regularly.

Metabolic Risk:
Given the observed changes in weight, blood glucose (see hyperglycemia) and lipids seen in clinical studies, there may be possible worsening of the metabolic risk profile in individual patients, which should be managed as clinically appropriate.

Reg Office AstraZeneca UK Limited,
2 Kingdom Street, London, W2 6BD,
Reg No 03674842
AstraZeneca UK Limited is a subsidiary
company of AstraZeneca PLC
DOP: November 2011 545607 - 1551204

Existing information on other metabolic parameters include the following:

Lipids:
Increases in triglycerides, LDL and total cholesterol, and decreases in HDL cholesterol have been observed in clinical trials with quetiapine. Lipid changes should be managed as clinically appropriate.
Please see Section 4.4 of the SmPC “Special warnings and precaution for use” for further details.
*Antipsychotic guidelines relevant to UK include the following. Prescribers are encouraged to check for updates to relevant guidelines on a regular basis.

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Core intervention in the treatment and management of schizophrenia in primary and secondary care (update). Clinical guideline 82. 2009
Should you have any questions regarding the above information please contact our Medical Information Department on 01582 836836.

Yours faithfully,
Catriona McMahon BSc MBChB FRCA MFPM
Medical & Regulatory Affairs Director
AstraZeneca UK Marketing Company

-------------------------------------------
Somehow this newest dear doctor warning letter doesn't quite jive with what AstraZeneca was actually doing & claiming while feverishly promoting the drug Seroquel

From the highly regarded 1boringoldman blog

Drugmaker Paid Psychiatrist Nearly $500,000 to Promote Antipsychotic, Despite Doubts About Research
Propublica and Chicago Tribune
by Christina Jewett, ProPublica, and Sam Roe
Nov. 11, 2009
Chanile Hayes came under Dr. Michael Reinstein’s care after suffering a nervous breakdown. Hayes went from 140 pounds to nearly 300 in two years after taking Seroquel, a drug that Reinstein was paid to promote by its manufacturer, AstraZeneca. Executives inside pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca faced a high-stakes dilemma. On one hand, Chicago psychiatrist Dr. Michael Reinstein was bringing the company a small fortune in sales and was conducting research that made one of its most promising drugs look spectacular. On the other, some worried that his research findings might be too good to be true.
As Reinstein grew irritated with what he perceived as the company’s slights, a top executive outlined the scenario in an e-mail to colleagues. "If he is in fact worth half a billion dollars to (AstraZeneca)," the company’s U.S. sales chief wrote in 2001, "we need to put him in a different category." To avoid scaring Reinstein away, he said, the firm should answer "his every query and satisfy any of his quirky behaviors."
Putting aside its concerns, AstraZeneca would continue its relationship with Reinstein, paying him $490,000 over a decade to travel the nation promoting its best-selling antipsychotic drug, Seroquel. In return, Reinstein provided the company a vast customer base: thousands of indigent, mentally ill residents in Chicago-area nursing homes. During this period, Reinstein also faced accusations that he overmedicated and neglected patients who took a variety of drugs. But his research and promotional work went on, including studies and presentations examining many of the antipsychotics he prescribed on his daily rounds.
The AstraZeneca payments, filed as exhibits in a federal lawsuit, highlight the extent to which a leading drug company helped sustain one of the busiest psychiatrists working in local nursing facilities. In an interview and in response to written questions, Reinstein said industry payments he has received for speeches and other engagements have had no bearing on his research results or patient care. He said he does not "accept any money from corporations to study their medications. This eliminates any possible conflicts of interest."
But he does receive money from the Uptown Research Institute, a for-profit business that conducts industry and federally funded studies on psychotropic drugs to help mentally ill patients. Reinstein’s office in Uptown is adjacent to the research institute, which is owned by John Sonnenberg, a clinical psychologist who describes Reinstein as "a mentor of mine" and "brilliant." Sonnenberg said drugmakers and others pay his institute to do research, and the group, in turn, pays Reinstein a consulting fee "under $2,000 a month" and has for many years…

This next clip about Reinstein’s use of Clozaril is much worse and should be read in toto [In Chicago’s Nursing Homes, a Psychiatrist Delivers High-Risk Meds, Cut-Rate Care]. There are plenty of other equally disturbing reports about Reinstein and Sonnenberg. Just google michael reinstein md. And in spite of Sonnenberg’s denials, this is clearly a shared enterprise with a fabricated separation to deflect conflict of interest charges. It’s kind of hard to see how John Sonnenberg can run a 52 site multinational clinical trial from a Chicago store-front, but this is the very Agency in charge of the Lurasidone D1050231 Trial that I’ve been discussing – the one that Drs. Meltzer and Potkin are so excited about.

Back to the Main Event:

So, looking back to the table of changes for the clinical trial of Latuda® [D1050231], it should make sense. John Sonnenberg and his Uptown Research Institute conducted the clinical trial for Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma. In 2009 Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma acquired Sepracor and created Sunovion in early 2010. In the meantime, Dr. Reinstein and Uptown Research were the focus of a lot of negative and embarrassing attention, being included in suits against AstraZeneca’s Seroquel. Here, I’m back to guessing again, but I suspect that Sunovion needed to sanitize D1050231 and distance themselves from Reinstein and Sonnenberg, so they brought in Quintiles to clean things up and help them with their FDA process and other things. So Dr. Herbert Y. Meltzer was not the Principal Investigator of the clinical trial like he said in the video. He was a Principle Investigator of the Vanderbilt site, one of fifty-two sites. The Study Principal Investigator was John Sonnenberg PhD operating out of that Chicago store-front next to and affiliated with a major dangerous pill mill operated by Dr. Michael Reinstein [that needs shutting down yesterday]. I doubt that anyone reading the article in the American Journal of Psychiatry pictured that store-front as the research facility behind the article [or Dr. Reinstein as a psychiatric consultant]…

Addendum: Perhaps you recall Dr. Reinstein’s Seroquel Pamphlet on Diabetes from long ago:

Federal Judge subverts justice once again - Is Bayer Yaz going to be the next AstraZeneca Seroquel

2012-01-04T22:08:00.000-08:00

We used to have something very unique in America that separates us from humanity's dark history of tyrannical dictatorships, elitist tyrannies, unbending theocracies, military tribunals, & oppressive oligarchies; it was called the rule of law and a system of equal justice determined by the masterful safe guard called a jury of our peers. That cherished and endangered safe guard of the common citizenry is now being supplanted within our judicial system with politically appointed judges with tainted partition agendas that serve those powerful few that have in turn gifted them their positions.

The injured parties in the Bayer YAZ litigation better be paying very close attention & start applying some firm pressure upon their law firms right now; before they are the next injured parties sold down the river for an insulting settlement offer by these ambulance chaser law firms that are looking out for themselves and bottom lines first & foremost. Oh yeah, their injured clients a very distant second, if at all..most of these law firms headed to these secretive backroom dealing only see you the injured party as a number, a dollar sign, a meal ticket, and easy pay day.

You are not a real person, an actual face, or a feeling human being that has suffered an injustice & injury by blatant corporate malfeasance to them. You are just simply a numbers calculation, one of many nameless & faceless thousands they intend to use as bargaining chips for profit .

Just ask the injured Seroquel litigants! We have been on the receiving end of the misinformation tread mill, felt the total disregard for our concerns and inquiries, and been bullied by these same law firms and court system you're relying upon to seek justice & to serve your best interest. It's many of the same law firms, the same secret backroom scam, and more than likely end up being the same unjust results coming for the YAZ victims down the proverbial pike very soon....

Say it ain't so! Please say it ain't so: trials canceled, judges forcing settlement negotiations, delays, delays, & more delays... and to think the same mediator hired gun appointed (or shall we say anointed) to this litigation that directed the scandalous miscarriage of justice in the AstraZeneca Seroquel litigation.

This surely means more shady secret back room deals with no injured party oversight or reasonable knowledge of the goings on..Tort litigation has become a corrupted cookie cutter process of monetary deal making that richly rewards both attorney firm greed & unscrupulous/recklessness corporate behavior; while leaving the actual injured parties with insulting token settlements and zero justice. But more than than this, it's hides the truth and inherent dangers of drug products from the general public.

As with the AstraZeneca Seroquel litigation; Bayer will for all intent & purpose end up walking away from this litigation with a scant slap on the wrist while admitting no wrong doing and profiting beyond imagination and to think, with all those product dangers & the pertinent information to be hidden from the general public's knowledge base forever.

This same crooked play book is now being used over and over again...and no one is standing up to confront all the greed serving beastly players from bottom to top of this members only club. This is none other than a corrupt elitist government sanctioned miscarriage of justice..what some call to BIG to be held accountable, and others call pay to play. What it's not, is about equal justice or receiving your rightful day in court before a jury of your peers, specially when a huge corporation with forethought and great malice recklessly causes you serious bodily harm from using their unsafe product.

_____________________________________________________________

From fiercepharma

Judge calls off Yaz trial, orders suits into mediation

January 4, 2012 — 11:21am ET | By Tracy Staton

The first Yaz trial won't open as scheduled. A federal judge delayed the bellwether patient lawsuit, set for trial next week, and appointed a special master to mediate instead. And this special master is well versed in pharma liability litigation: It's George Washington law professor Stephen Saltzburg, who handled mediation in 26,000 Seroquel lawsuits.

Judge David Herndon, who's overseeing litigation over Bayer's birth control pills, had promised in the fall to press for settlements after the bellwether trials wrapped up. But in an order filed Dec. 31, Herndon abandoned his previous plan in favor of mediation, saying this alternative will "better serve" plaintiffs and defendants in these cases. Herndon ordered both sides to meet with Saltzburg "without delay" and negotiate in good faith.

The order not only put the first Yaz trial—Kerry Sims v. Bayer—on hold, but also put the rest of the bellwether trials in limbo. Herndon is presiding over thousands of suits claiming Bayer contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin caused dangerous blood clots, and the drugmaker didn't adequately warn patients of the risks. Bayer maintains the pills are safe and effective when used as directed.
Lawyers aren't the only ones debating the drugs' safety. A range of studies have turned in conflicting results on their safety risks, with some highlighting substantial increase in clotting risks and others finding no increase. In December, an FDA advisory panel reviewed the data, and the group recommended labeling changes to clarify the potential risk of blood clots. The committee backed the drugs' risk-benefit profile, however, with a 15-11 vote.

- get Judge Herndon's order (PDF)

_____________________________________

If your wondering how all these defective & harmful drugs are getting approved to market; there this interesting article today over at Pharmalot you should read. & read here concerning YAZ http://www.pharmalot.com/2011/12/former-fda-commish-bayer-hid-yasmin-data/.

Different drug for a different use than Seroquel no doubt...but the hidden data, corporate hanky panky, and ingrained corruption up and down the profiteering chain link connections are eerily similar..

AstraZeneca Seroquel Injury Lawsuit - Year End Update & Review 2011

2011-12-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

AstraZeneca Seroquel Injury Lawsuit - Year End Update & Review 2011

It’s the same deafening silence coming from the plaintiff law firms as 2011 draws to an ominous close. There has been lot’s of baseless bluster about final offer packets being sent out? Some more rumors about some of the plaintiff firms mailing out checks to the chagrin of many unsatisfied and angry injured parties. The charade has been unmasked.

It appears the plaintiff law firms have once again crawled into their profiteering black holes, while ignoring the concerns and complaints of their clients that they have both a sworn professional & ethical duty to serve. Injured parties are still being left in the dark about any & all particulars that have gone into these “secret” settlement negotiations. Everything is very hush-hush and being kept from those who (injured parties) have the most to lose from these questionable and dubious plaintiff law firm practices.

Those who have not signed onto this nefarious backroom settlement scam are now sitting back wondering, watching, & waiting for their law firms to drop the ball, their cases, and send them packing.

This is when the expected & much anticipated wave of legal malpractice suits should begin in earnest. The first cannon ball shots can almost being heard splashing across the legal-ship bow; as a war and its many battles surely lay ahead.

From those I have communicated with regarding this litigation; injured parties have not been given even the simple choice of whether to accept this token insult offer or not in any of the settlement offers or paperwork. This settlement in essence is being forced upon or ram rotted down their throats of injured parties against their will & best interest by greedy law firms that are solely looking out for their own financial interest at this juncture.

Injured party appeals & voiced concerns have been ignored and dismissed at every turn (a couple of cases have been highlighted on this Blog in an earlier post). Informational inquiries have been met with repeated resistance; in many cases misinformation & open hostility. In fact, many plaintiff law firms with little doubt have been shown to be actively working in an oppositional/adversarial role to those they are supposed to advocate for & represent. The vast majority of plaintiff law firms in the Seroquel Litigation obviously have not worked in the best interest of their clients. Shall we have to once again remind everyone that is these law firms’ solemn charge and most basic legal obligation?

What we have going on today is an unconscionable miscarriage of justice occurring right before our eyes. Innocent Injured parties are asking again that the Department of Justice investigate this ongoing travesty of unscrupulous practices being perpetrated upon victims of legal & corporate impropriety. The American Bar Association should be taking the lead in examining these ambulance chaser law firm profiteers, while holding them professionally accountable for their detestable actions; yet, they appear to have buried their heads in the sand accepting these blatant unethical legal practices & corruption to continue unchallenged.

Does the American public have to be reminded that a corrupted, dysfunctional, and biased legal process/system undermines the very basic principles of our Republic; while leading us down an inevitable darkened path toward oppressive governing tyranny & resulting societal anarchy?

The time is now to draw the line in the sand, and to make a stand for what is right. Change will not happen without us taking action and making our own personal sacrifice. The only question remaining is who is able & willing to finally step up to the plate & fight for what is right, just, and in the best interest of us all.

What can you do?

1) Reject the “supposed” Final Offer – It’s your Choice…

2) Force your law firms hand; demand a trial or to renegotiation of this settlement…

3) If your law firm drops you as a client or refuses to listen; seek legal counsel to represent you in legal malpractice litigation against these firms.

4) File complaints with the Department of Justice

5) Write and file complaints with the Court

6) File complaints with your State & National Bar Association

7) Contact, Write, or Call you’re Congressional and Senate representatives: demand an investigation….Do not allow AstraZeneca to be rewarded for the purposeful maiming & killing of many tens of thousands all in the name of unquenchable corporate greed.

8) The only way to assure that these kinds of corporate crimes and legal injustices will continue; is to do nothing…

9) Remember, you get the last word & final say on any settlement; ***not the law firm***...Do not enrich these unscrupulous law firms for not serving your best interest…

10) For those Lawyers reading! It’s far past time to hold your peers accountable!

Speak Out!! Make Your Voice Heard!! Be Persistent!!

Student spikes brownies with AstraZeneca's antipsychotic Seroquel

2011-12-07T20:14:00.000-08:00

Brownies laced with the antipsychotic Seroquel were given to a teacher's aid and 2 classmates according to this article, the brownies were the gift that keeps on giving from a senior at a New Milford High School in CT.

AstraZeneca Seroquel - the continued marketing of death & mayhem for profit - what about the victims?

2011-12-01T12:30:00.000-08:00

In the past couple of days many readers may have come across a couple of headlines news articles highlighting & confirming how little has really changed when it comes to the pharmaceutical criminal cartels marketing of poisons such as Seroquel for massive profits & horrifying results. Yet, the body count continues to rise, and still AstraZeneca & others go about the nasty business of running their dubious operations as if it was just simply "Business as Usual". Now we have dog & pony puppet show Senate hearings giving some mouth air time to the ongoing carnage where very little has been done, quite obviously far far to late...

As they say; read it and weep... no one is really talking or thinking about the victims; they are the forgotten throw away lives that just get buried somewhere underneath the headline pronouncements of meaningless big dollars fines and hollow accountability promise banter; it's always all about the money... that's the up side down and backwards sad real world reality of our government & failed enforcement bodies in America.
---------------------------------

Inspector Highlights Psych Drug Use Among Elderly

Published December 01, 2011

Associated Press

Government inspectors told lawmakers Wednesday that Medicare officials need to do more to stop doctors from prescribing powerful psychiatric drugs to nursing home patients with dementia, an unapproved practice that has flourished despite repeated government warnings.

So-called antipsychotic drugs are designed to help control hallucinations, delusions and other abnormal behavior in people suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but they're also given to hundreds of thousands of elderly nursing home patients in the U.S. to pacify aggressive behavior related to dementia. Drugs like AstraZeneca's Seroquel and Eli Lilly's Zyprexa are known for their sedative effect, often putting patients to sleep.

But the drugs can also increase the risk of death in seniors, prompting the Food and Drug Administration to issue multiple warnings against prescribing the drugs for dementia.

Antipsychotics raise blood sugar and cholesterol, often resulting in weight gain. An inspector for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told the Senate Committee on Aging that the federal government's Medicare program should begin penalizing nursing homes that inappropriately prescribe antipsychotics, according to written testimony obtained by the Associated Press.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides health coverage to nearly 80 million senior, poor or disabled Americans.

HHS Inspector General Daniel Levinson proposed that Medicare force nursing homes to pay for drugs that are prescribed inappropriately, and potentially bar nursing homes that don't use antipsychotics appropriately from Medicare.

A report by Levinson's office issued in May found that 83 percent of Medicare claims for antipsychotics were for residents with dementia, the condition specifically warned against in the drugs' labeling. Fourteen percent of all nursing home residents, nearly 305,000 patients, were prescribed antipsychotics. The HHS Inspector General's office Medicare claims during a 2007 six month period.

Doctors are permitted to prescribe drugs for off-label uses, though it is illegal for drug companies to promote uses that haven't been cleared by the FDA. In recent years several pharmaceutical companies have paid huge fines to the Department of Justice in cases involving off-label marketing of antipsychotics.

In January 2009, Eli Lilly & Co. Inc. agreed to plead guilty and pay $1.4 billion for illegal promotion of Zyprexa, including marketing to nursing home doctors. The company told its sales representatives to use the slogan "5 at 5," to persuade doctors that giving 5 milligrams of the drug at 5 p.m. would make dementia patients sleep through the night.

AstraZeneca PLC has paid nearly $600 million in two separate settlements with federal and state prosecutors over alleged off-label promotion of its drug Seroquel.

further coverage here @ c-span

--------------------------------------

Why Are So Many Foster Care Children Taking Antipsychotics?

By Maia Szalavitz Tuesday, November 29, 2011

From TIME healthland

More than 8% of children in foster care have received antipsychotic medication, and just over one quarter of those in foster care who also receive disability benefits take these drugs, according to a recent study in the journal Pediatrics.

The question is why? Children in foster care have typically been neglected or abused — indeed, simply removing a young child from his or her parents, even abusive ones, is in itself traumatic — so, not surprisingly, kids in foster care are more likely to suffer from psychiatric and behavioral problems than those who have stable families. Previous data suggest that foster-care children are about twice as likely as those outside the system to receive psychiatric medications.

Whether these problems are leading to higher rates of antipsychotic use, however, is not clear. "I think we have clinicians facing some very challenging situations," says Susan dosReis, associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and lead author of the study. "But we don't have information as to why the prescribers decided on these medications for [these particular] youths."

MORE: Drugging the Vulnerable: Atypical Antipsychotics in Children and the Elderly

The numbers suggest that the influence of pharmaceutical company marketing cannot be overlooked. Ninety-nine percent of youth receiving antipsychotic medications in the study were given atypical antipsychotics — the newer generation of these drugs, which are expensive and mostly unavailable in generic form and have been heavily advertised.

All of the major manufacturers of these drugs have been fined by the Food and Drug Administration for illegal marketing practices — in part, for marketing the drugs for unapproved use in children — with some convicted of criminal charges.

Eli Lilly, which manufactures the atypical antipsychotic Zyprexa, paid out $1.42 billion in 2009 — $615 million of that to settle criminal charges. The charges against Lilly involved selling Zyprexa to doctors for use in children, despite the fact that it was not approved for this age group.

Bristol Myers Squibb paid $515 million in 2007 to settle charges that it also illegally pushed its antipsychotic Abilify to child psychiatrists. Pfizer paid out $301 million in a similar case related to its drug Geodon. AstraZeneca paid out $520 million to settle charges over the drug Seroquel. In all of these cases, the drugs were sold for unapproved use in youth.

The new study by dosReis and colleagues included records of more than 600,000 children enrolled in Medicaid in 2003, including those in foster care, those receiving disability benefits for mental diagnoses, and those on the welfare program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Overall, nearly 3% of all youth on Medicaid received at least one prescription for an antipsychotic medication that year, which is itself a high proportion, especially given that the main condition that antipsychotics are approved to treat —schizophrenia — is extremely rare in children. The rate of schizophrenia in children under 12 is an estimated 2 cases per 1 million children; it affects fewer than 1% of older teens. Antipsychotics are also approved to treat bipolar disorder, a diagnosis that is highly controversial in children. Some studies suggest that it affects 0.2% to 0.4 % of children, and up to 1% of adolescents.

And yet, between 1994 and 2003, rates of bipolar diagnoses in youth under 19 rose by a factor of more than 40, according to the National Institute on Mental Health. It seems unlikely to be a coincidence that this rise occurred during the period when atypical antipsychotics were being illegally marketed for children.

Indeed, most of the antipsychotics used in foster-care youth were for conditions that the drugs were not approved to treat. Fifty-three percent of prescriptions were written for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a condition that is ordinarily managed with drugs that have the opposite pharmacological effects as antipsychotics. The stimulant medications like Adderall and Ritalin, widely used for ADHD, tend to increase levels of dopamine, while antipsychotics tend to decrease it.

Moreover, 38% of youth in foster care and 34% of foster-care youth receiving disability benefits received simultaneous prescriptions for more than one atypical antipsychotic, for more than three months — a practice that the researchers said "has demonstrated greater adverse effects with only marginal benefits." Worryingly, black youth were 27% more likely to receive two or more antipsychotics than whites.

"Essentially, medications like antipsychotics can help with mood instability and aggressivity," says dosReis, explaining that the drugs are often used to treat symptoms rather than conditions. Very little research is available on medication use in children to guide these practices.

"One of the things I would like to see come out of this research is starting to think about monitoring and evaluating the quality of care [these children are receiving]. We're not supporting or condoning these practices. One extreme says that no one should get these medications, and that's as irrational as saying we should be using more," she says.

MORE: Study: Antipsychotics Show No Benefit for Treating Veterans' PTSD

The risks of long-term prescribing of atypical antipsychotics to children, whose brains are still developing, are not known. What is known, however, is that the drugs cause severe weight gain in children, and that taking more than one antipsychotic drug may double, even quintuple, the risk of diabetes in youth. In adults, the weight gain associated with use of just one antipsychotic medication increase the risk of diabetes two- to four-fold, which has serious deleterious consequences for long-term health.

Although children in foster care may be genetically and environmentally at higher risk for mental illness, the disproportionately widespread use of antipsychotics in this group is troubling. "This study confirms the need for developmentally and trauma-informed practices in the vulnerable foster-care population," says Dr. Bruce Perry, founder of the ChildTrauma Academy. "Misunderstanding the pervasive effects of abuse and neglect leads to the mislabeling of behavioral and emotional symptoms in these children and then to overmedication." (Full disclosure: Dr. Perry is my co-author on two books.)

"The frustrating reality is that there are many evidence-based non-pharmacological interventions that have proven effectiveness and have no adverse effects," Perry says. Sadly, however, no one is spending billions to push them.

-----------------------------------

Not enough evidence! Read this disturbing testimony before the Senate & Congress,

12-year-old-kid-speaks-before-senate

highlight:

Children in Foster care were prescribed mind altering drugs up to 4.7 more times than children not in care.

Thousands of children had received more than the recommended dose of mind altering drugs

Over 600 children in state care were on 5 or more mind altering drugs at any given time

5,265 infants [under the age of 1] were prescribed mind altering drugs.

Dr. Ramesh Raghaven:"we are forced to rely on psychotropic drugs to carry the burden" of psychosocial treatment and care of foster kids: antipsychotics,Seroquel,Zyprexa, Risperdal and more

2011-11-21T06:42:00.000-08:00

Dr. Ramesh Raghavan

New York Times

Drugs Used for Psychotics Go to Youths in Foster Care

By BENEDICT CAREY

Published: November 20, 2011

Foster children are being prescribed cocktails of powerful antipsychosis drugs just as frequently as some of the most mentally disabled youngsters onMedicaid, a new study suggests.

The report, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, is the first to investigate how often youngsters in foster care are given two antipsychotic drugs at once, the authors said. The drugs includeRisperdal, Seroquel and Zyprexa — among other so-called major tranquilizers — which were developed for schizophrenia but are now used as all-purpose drugs for almost any psychiatric symptoms.
“The kids in foster care may come from bad homes, but they do not have the sort of complex medical issues that those in the disabled population do,” said Susan dosReis, an associate professor in the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and the lead author.
The implication, Dr. dosReis and other experts said: Doctors are treating foster children’s behavioral problems with the same powerful drugs given to people with schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder. “We simply don’t have evidence to support this kind of use, especially in young children,” Dr. dosReis said.
In recent years, doctors and policy makers have grown concerned about high rates of overall psychiatric drug use in the foster care system, the government-financed program that provides temporary living arrangements for 400,000 to 500,000 children and adolescents.
Previous studies have found that children in foster care receive psychiatric medications at about twice the rate among children outside the system.
The new study focused on one of the most powerful classes of drugs, antipsychotics. It found that about 2 percent of foster children took at least one such drug, even though schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, for which the drugs are approved, are extremely rare in young children.
“It’s a significant and important finding, and it should prompt states to improve the quality of care in this area,” said Dr. Mark Olfson, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University who did not contribute to the research.
In the study, mental health researchers analyzed 2003 Medicaid records of 637,924 minors from an unidentified mid-Atlantic state who were either in foster care, getting disability benefits for a diagnosis like severe autism or bipolar disorder, or in a program calledTemporary Assistance for Needy Families. All of these programs draw on Medicaid financing. The investigators found that 16,969, or about 3 percent of the total, had received at least one prescription for an antipsychotic drug.
Yet among these, it was the foster children who most often got more than one such prescription at the same time: 9.2 percent, versus 6.8 percent among the children on disability, and just 2.5 percent of those in the needy families program.
Antipsychotic drugs, the authors said, also cause rapid weight gain and increase the risk for metabolic problems in many people, an effect that may be amplified by the use of two at once.
Doctors who treat such children are aware of the trade-offs and often prescribe lower doses of the medications as a result. And when they add a second such drug, it is often to counteract side effects of the first medication.
Still, the relatively high rates of these drug combinations in such a young and vulnerable group have prompted policy makers across the country to take notice. A consortium of 16 states, in collaboration with Rutgers University, has drawn up guidelines to improve care for foster children and others dependent on state aid.
“The psychiatrists who are treating these kids on the front lines are not doing it for money; there are very low reimbursement rates from Medicaid,” said Dr. Ramesh Raghavan, a mental health services researcher at Washington University in St. Louis. “There’s enormous anguish because everyone knows that this is not what we should be doing for these kids. We as a society simply haven’t made the investment in psychosocial treatments, and so we are forced to rely on psychotropic drugs to carry the burden.”
$$$$$$$ That's some burden you're carrying.What is the next step? generic version, it's cheaper than name brand and we can still bill Medicaid the same.Kids? what kids?

Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, Big Plans to take on the antidepressant market: AstraZeneca and Targacept

2011-11-20T22:09:00.000-08:00

This could be coming to a pharmacy near you: AstraZeneca and Targacept (a stem from RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co) are combining efforts to bring an nicotine receptor antidepresssant to the table, though the early returns on the prospective drug didn't look like it could compete with AstraZeneca's antipsychotic Seroquel.

Seroquel will soon be in generic form and AstraZeneca will need to fill that portfolio gap with something... like a new blockbuster. Seroquel has been touted as an antidepressant through clever marketing campaigns, and of course we all know that Seroquel got to market at all because of buried trial data to make the drug look good on paper.

28,000 or so lawsuits later we know how that went. Diabetes and weight gain seem to be the norm with Seroquel, though company spokespeople will tell you otherwise.

Savvy consumers might not want to deal with breaking in a new antidepressant co-created by a Big Tobacco company wanting to break in on that antipsychotic action. Instead, they might want to try Smoking quetiapine Seroquel, as in Mac Ball because quetiapine isn't as innocent as it appears.

Abstract

Quetiapine abuse has been a cause for increased concern among clinicians. Several reports have highlighted this in the past. Reports of quetiapine abuse have varied in their routes of administration. The authors have had experience in managing several patients who have admitted to the use of quetiapine outside of prescription settings. This article examines the case of a recent patient on the authors’ inpatient unit who admitted to a novel route of abuse. While quetiapine’s abuse potential in the black market is well known, motivations for the abuse of quetiapine have varied in the past. Anxiety and insomnia has been amongst the reported motivations. Combination abuse of quetiapine with cocaine, called “Q ball,” have been reported previously. Quetiapine serves as a substitute for heroin when used in this combination. This article highlights a previously unreported combination of quetiapine with marijuana used in the inhalational route in what is termed a “Maq ball.”

Sounds like Big Profit $$$$

AstraZeneca, Targacept drug fails depression test Reuters

The drug, called TC-5214, has been deemed a potential big seller as the first in a new class of medicines that work by modulating neuronal nicotinic receptors. The companies have theorized that overstimulation of these receptors, or proteins, is associated with depression.

Shares of Targacept, a small U.S. drugmaker that began as part of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co, plunged 58 percent to $7.97 in heavy afternoon trading on the Nasdaq. Partner AstraZeneca fell 3.2 percent in London.

Data from three other Phase III trials of TC-5214 are expected by the first half of next year. Should the results prove favorable, the companies aim to seek approval for the drug in the United States in the second half of 2012 and in Europe in 2015, a spokeswoman at AstraZeneca said.

Leerink Swann analyst Seamus Fernandez, who had expected the drug to see $1 billion in sales by 2017, yanked the forecast due to the failed trial results.

"TC-5214 was the most promising pipeline candidate and possessed the strongest commercial synergies with the AstraZeneca portfolio," Fernandez said in a research note, noting it could still be approved if ongoing studies succeed.

TC-5214 is being assessed as an add-on therapy for patients who do not do well on standard antidepressants. It would compete with drugs like AstraZeneca's older Seroquel and could help the company once Seroquel faces cheaper generics.

AstraZeneca agreed in 2009 to pay as much as $1.24 billion for rights to TC-5214, including an upfront payment of $200 million. The drug has been one of the few potential bright spots in its pipeline."

Hundreds of Soldiers & Vets Dying From AstraZeneca Antipsychotic--Seroquel

2011-11-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

Hundreds of Soldiers & Vets Dying From Antipsychotic--Seroquel

From PR Newswire

Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD & Stan White (Father of Deceased Veteran, Andrew White) disclose the following:

EL CAJON, Calif., Nov. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As a neurologist who has discovered and described medical diseases, I (FAB) read the May 24, 2008, Charleston (WV) Gazette article "Vets taking Post Traumatic Stress Disorder drugs die in sleep," and opened and financed my own investigation into these unexplained deaths.

Andrew White, Eric Layne, Nicholas Endicott and Derek Johnson, all in their twenties, were four West Virginia veterans who died in their sleep in early 2008. There were no signs of suicide or of a multi-drug "overdose" leading to coma, as claimed by the Inspector General of the VA. All had been diagnosed "PTSD"—a psychological diagnosis, not a disease (physical abnormality) of the brain. All were on the same prescribed drug cocktail, Seroquel (antipsychotic), Paxil (antidepressant) and Klonopin (benzodiazepine) and all appeared "normal" when they went to sleep.

On February 7, 2008, Surgeon General Eric B. Schoomaker, had announced there had been "a series, a sequence of deaths" in the military suggesting this was "often a consequence of the use of multiple prescription and nonprescription medicines and alcohol."

However, the deaths of the 'Charleston Four' were probable sudden cardiac deaths (SCD), a sudden, pulseless condition leading to brain death in 4-5 minutes, a survival rate or 3-4%, and not allowing time for transfer to a hospital. Conversely, drug-overdose coma is protracted, allowing time for discovery, diagnosis, transport, treatment, and frequently--survival.

Antipsychotics and antidepressants alone or in combination, are known to cause SCD. Sicouri and Antzelevitch (2008) concluded: (1) "A number of antipsychotic and antidepressant drugs can increase the risk of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death," (2)"Antipsychotics can increase cardiac risk even at low doses whereas antidepressants do it generally at high doses or in the setting of drug combinations."

On April 13, 2009, Baughman wrote the Office of the Surgeon General (OTSGWebPublisher@amedd.army.mil): "On February 7, 2008 the Surgeon General said there had been 'a series, a sequence of deaths.' Has the study of these deaths been published?"

On April 17, 2009 the Office of the Surgeon General responded, "The assessment is still pending and has not been released yet." More than a year later and still no explanation, nor further acknowledgement that these deaths even took place.

In a press release, (PRNewswire, May 19, 2009) Baughman wrote: "I call upon the military for an immediate embargo of all antipsychotics and antidepressants until there has been a complete, wholly public, clarification of the extent and causes of this epidemic of probable sudden cardiac deaths."
Googling "dead in bed," "dead in barracks," by April 16, 2009, veteran's wife, Diane Vande Burgt, had Googled 74 probable sudden cardiac deaths. By May 2010: 128, and, by November 2, 2011: 247. Two-hundred-forty-seven!

In April 2010 I was in anonymous receipt of an Army National Guard Serious Incident Report for the 5 months 10/03/09 to 3/7/10. In it were 93 "incidents" including 4 "heart attacks," 6 "cardiac arrests" and 3 "found dead"; 13 of 93 (14%) probable SCDs.

Pfc. Ryan Alderman, was on a cocktail of psych drugs when found unresponsive, dying in his barracks at Ft. Carson, Colo. Sudden cardiac death was confirmed by an ECG done at the scene. Inexplicably, military officials de-classified his death and reversed the cause, calling it instead, a "suicide."

Again I challenge the military to produce the evidence.

In June 2011, a DoD Health Advisory Group backed a highly questionable policy of "polypharmacy" asserting: "…multiple psychotropic meds may be appropriate in select individuals." The fact of the matter is that psychotropic drug polypharmacy is never safe, scientific, or medically justifiable. What it is a means of (1) maximizing profit, and (2) making it difficult to impossible to blame adverse effects on any one drug.

From 2001 to the present, US Central Command has given deploying troops 180 day supplies of prescription psychotropic drugs—Seroquel included. In a May 2010 report of its Pain Management Task Force, the Army endorsed Seroquel in 25- or 50-milligram doses as a 'sleep aid.'

Over the past decade, $717 million was spent for Risperdal and $846 million for Seroquel, for a mind-blowing total of $1.5 billion when neither Risperdal nor Seroquel have been proven safe or effective for PTSD or sleep disorders.

Ironically, yet not surprisingly, pay-to-play in Washington becomes more egregious every day. Heather Bresch, daughter of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-WV) was recently named CEO of WV drug-maker Mylan Inc., that recently contracted with the DoD for over 20 million doses of Seroquel.
Defense Department Health Advisory Group chair, Charles Fogelman, warned: "DoD currently lacks a unified pharmacy database that reflects medication use across pre-deployment, deployment and post-deployment settings." In essence, through a premeditated lack of record keeping, mandated by law at any other pharmacy or medical office to track potential fatal reactions to mixing prescription drugs, the military is willfully preempting all investigations into the injuries and deaths due to psychiatric drugs.

I call on the DoD, VA, House and Senate Armed Services and House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees to tell concerned Americans and the families of fallen heroes what psychiatric drugs each of the deceased, both combat and non-combat, soldiers and veterans were on?

It is time for the military and government to come clean.

SOURCE Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD

AstraZeneca Indicted for Bribery - pharmaceutical corporate crime wave continues unabated - What CIA ?

2011-11-07T15:17:00.000-08:00

AstraZeneca Indicted for Bribery - The pharmaceutical corporate crime wave continues unabated - What CIA (corporate integrity agreement) ?

From The Wall Street Journal .com Via Pharmagossip

AstraZeneca Indicted In Serbia For Alleged Bribery

November 7, 2011

By Samuel Rubenfeld

AstraZeneca PLC said Monday in a securities filing that it was criminally indicted in Serbia for alleged bribery.

The indictment, which according to the filing was served in August, accuses local AstraZeneca employees of having “made allegedly improper payments to physicians” at the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia.

In the filing, the company said it has filed a number of procedural motions to dismiss the charges.
“We intend to vigorously defend the matter and have filed a number of pending preliminary procedural objections that ask the Serbian criminal court to dismiss the indictment,” Tony Jewell, an AstraZeneca spokesman, said in an email. “This case is still in preliminary stages, so we are not in a position, at this time to comment further or to predict the outcome.”

The disclosure was made when AstraZeneca reported third-quarter earnings on Oct. 27; the Financial Times reported it (sub req) at the time. Monday’s filing, the 6-K required of foreign issuers, was a bundle of press releases made by the company during October.

Last year, the director of the Institute—as well as several others, including the head of AstraZeneca’s Belgrade office—were arrested in an alleged bribery scheme that involved favoring some pharmaceutical companies’ products when purchasing cancer-treatment medicine.

The pharmaceutical industry is already staring at an industry-wide probe in the U.S. into alleged foreign bribery. AstraZeneca was one of several companies that disclosed it was being investigated for possible violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars companies and individuals from bribing foreign officials to get or keep business.

Johnson & Johnson settled in April, agreeing to pay $70 million to U.S. authorities. In its latest annual report, AstraZeneca said it’s cooperating with U.S. authorities on the probe, and it couldn’t predict the scope, duration or outcome of the investigation.
-----------------------------------------------------------

How many times have we heard this line of literal bullshit from AstraZeneca's PR department “We intend to vigorously defend the matter and have filed a number of pending preliminary procedural objections that ask the Serbian criminal court to dismiss the indictment,”

Which really means AstraZeneca plans to spend what ever it takes and pull out all the stops to yet again get away with serious crimes that undoubtedly adversely effect the health and well being of countless numbers of consumers. While walking away unscathed, without accepting responsibility or being held accountable for their many detestable crimes....as they say "Just part & the cost of their criminal business as usual profitable operation".

The Miller Firm LLC, Garretson, and "You Have A Lawyer" Saiontz & Kirk,P.A. - AstraZeneca Seroquel Litigation - The envelope please, open the damned envelope - the losers are ??

2011-10-30T13:50:00.000-07:00

An Anonymous source once again has provided this blog with a supposedly very ""hush hush" confidential information regarding the Seroquel Litigation that once again gives us a startling glimpse into the dark and shady legal under world of tort pharmaceutical litigation. I must honestly laugh out loud at the childish confidentiality games these firms are playing with their clients.

This latest following correspondence is in regards to an appeal letter sent HERE by this my source to The Miller Firm LLC, Garretson Resolution Group, and "You Have A Lawyer" Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. regarding their original settlement offer packet HERE.

It appears from the back & forth correspondence that I have had with this source, that these law firms completely ignored every major and pertinent issue that was addressed in the original appeals letter. But they have even gone further in their sleazy gamesmanship by recalculating and changing the rules of the settlement game merely as it suits them. In this case they have actually reduced their settlement offer significantly. Is this targeted retribution or just blatant incompetence...either way, this no doubt highlights the shameful and unprofessional conduct of these firms...

These are the highlights that make all this so disturbing & perplexing:

The original gross offer was reduced from $11,595.91 (-$1344.64) to $10,251.27 after the appeal
The Net settlement offer figure was reduced from $5,967.09 (-$748.83) to $5,218.26 after the appeal.
How could that possibly happen one might ask? The law firm simply changed the disbursement criteria arbitrarily adding and subtracting where ever they wanted without the input or consultation with the clients they supposedly represent.
They added an after 2004 seroquel use deduction of 20%
in seems they have Jettisoned 6 clients
created a larger hold back slush fund for 40 missing or dual represented cases
Appear to have changed age requirement from 18 years old to 19 years old?
developed a new arbitrary point system for offer allocation

Of course, what still has not added or considered for obvious self gain reasoning by the law firms is that the settlement is not based upon the plaintiff injuries; it is based solely on the cost of AstraZeneca continuing to defend these claims.

If they are going to base this settlement on injuries, then AstraZeneca first needs to come forward and publicly admit that Seroquel did in fact cause the claimed injuries to be able to use this type of format or methodology in calculating settlement awards.

So aside from the glaring fact: the settlement calculation methodology leaves out so many other pertinent variables that it is virtually useless in determining equitable settlement distribution amounts. Just a small sample of the omitted criteria worth mentioning are...

What was the drug prescribed for...off label or unapproved use
actual financial loses incurred by the injured party (lost wages, employment, other)
past, present, and future medical expenses determination for each client
pain, suffering, and psychological damages incurred by the drug & aftermath
Was the prescribing doctor a spokesperson, paid representative, receiving actual monetary benefits for prescribing Seroquel (conflicts of interest) from AstraZeneca
Were the claimants properly warned about the dangers/side effects of Seroquel by their treating or prescribing doctors....
What were the negative effects and damage caused by the burying of important data, the off label marketing, and misinformation campaigns waged by AstraZeneca to both patients and doctors on each client injury..
are there litigants that have already received an award settlement for similar or the same injury claims they are now making for Seroquel, from another drug..
and the list goes on and on...

The bottom line is this....the source's appeal was ignored...and then it was subjected to a new calculation methodology as retribution for making an appeal. There is absolutely zero doubt who the law firms are working for...they are first working for themselves and self financial gain...they are also working as agents representing AstraZeneca attempting to force this settlement upon injured parties...and the worst of all they have completely abandoned their professional and ethical responsibility to serve each individual client's best interest...In Fact: as I read through all the many post, complaints, evidence, legal jargon, mind boggling settlement offers, threat letters, the strong arm tactics ,and see the way injured parties are being treated by these law firms....I can draw no other conclusion than The Miller Firm LLC, "You Have A Lawyer" Saiontz & Kirk, P.A., and other like firms involved in this & other drug related tort litigation never have intended to meet or full-fill their professional fiduciary duties to those who entrusted their cases and broken lives to them.

Guess what you legal sleaze balls; the damaged and forever negatively altered lives caused by AstraZeneca's drug Seroquel are not your cash cows or bargaining poker chips merely created for your own selfish gain and shameful profiteering...these are real lives, feeling real pain, are experiencing/enduring long suffering, and a diminished quality of life...You would be very wise to remember that stark reality...before it's comes back to bite you hard...

This is a counter appeals offer supplied & relayed to me by my anonymous source, directed to AstraZeneca, The Miller Firm LLC, Garretson Resolution Group, and "You Have A Lawyer" Saiontz & Kirk, P.A.: that AstraZeneca publicly admit that Seroquel has indeed caused thousands of deaths &/or injuries including diabetes and related conditions. That they indeed purposely mislead and lied to the public for their own profiteering gain. And that AstraZeneca supplies a written detailed public apology for all to read. Then my source will personally & happily decline any monetary award (ask for nothing 0) related to the harm and health damage caused by AstraZeneca's drug Seroquel.

How the AstraZeneca Seroquel Plaintiff Law Firms have turned a "TORT" into a very profitable bastardized version of class action

2011-10-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

A class action lawsuit is a complaint filed by one party on behalf of everyone in a similar situation. Such lawsuits look at the big picture and are useful, for example, to force a company to take a legal action.

A mass tort lawsuit is different. Like class action lawsuit, a mass tort combines many legal cases into a single trial, but unlike a class action each plaintiff is treated as an individual with their own individual lawsuit. The difference between a mass tort and an individual case is that in a mass tort lawsuit many similar cases are argued together saving time and money that can be better spent preparing to make the best legal case for you. Mass torts pool legal resources from many similar cases to benefit each unique case.

So how does a tort get turned into a class action...it's called a lump sum settlement...a law firm settles all cases they represent against a defendant (in this case AstraZeneca) for a one large lump sum amount of dollars & by virtue of the settlement deal guidelines guarantee full participation & compliance. At this point the law firm takes on the role of settlement marketeer for the defendants by setting up some arbitrary criteria ( that means that each individual's actual loses, injuries, or particular circumstances are not considered in coming up with an settlement offer figure ) for disbursement of funds. The plaintiff law firm then presents these offers to their clients in a "take it or leave it" threating manner sales pitch...the clients are given in reality a choice to either accept the offer (whether it's fair or equitable or individually derived) or the law firm will drop them as a client. In fact, it's set up in such a way, that even if a law firms drops/stops representing a high percentage of their clients; they will still make the same profit from this set lump sum settlement; as long as the eager defendant signs off on the agreement (which is virtually an automatic done deal from the get go).

This happens even if the plaintiff firms never take a single case to trial, or does the basic work of gathering adequate information, particulars of each individual case, or without investigating each of their clients individual claims to come up with actual loses, suffering, & injuries incurred by the defendants actions.

Today, Tort has become a nothing more than the new & more profitable class action, without having to ever prove a case, have the court or a jury determine what each individual case is worth in dollar terms based on the evidence. It also takes the court completely out of distribution and criteria used in such negotiated settlements. In fact much the limited criteria the law firms are using in this inequitable distribution of funds schemes, and the limited arbitrary criteria methodologies being used, are the very same criteria these law firms were either unwilling or unable to prove in a court of law.

So tort today is basically when your lawyer makes a secret back room deal with the defendants for a set amount of money, and then in truth stop operating or working for those they were supposed to individually represent; but instead become a working agents for the opposition defendants.

To makes matters worse, (as in the Seroquel Litigation) the defendants (offending party) get to control the entire settlement process, and also get the final say in each individual case/settlement.

To put this in some form of simple context: it's as if the Big Bad Wolf was placed in charge of Little Red Riding-hood's complete Itinerary, was given Carte blanche to grandma's house, full reign over all conspiring events, and then is handsomely rewarded after The Wolf finishes devouring Little Miss Riding-hood. The injured parties are being virtually eaten alive; first by AstraZeneca's Seroquel; that have left them injured and suffering, and then again by greedy and self centered law firms that are only looking out for the own financial bottom line....Have they treated each individual they represent with the care, dignity, diligence, and duty they were given and hired to preform? the answer is NO! Have they lived up to their professional and ethical obligations as legal professionals? The answer is absolutely NO...

The only question left to be answered now: is who in the legal profession is going to stand up for the "people" they are are duty bound to represent, and underlying basic guiding principles of the law & justice in America?

The people are waiting to hear from you.....America is waiting....

...and the winner is, Garretson Resolution Group and the Miller Firm ... the envelope please!

2011-10-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

Will the dog keep its paws off of the claimant's new, Miller Firm Seroquel diabetes settlement payout-after-appeal-results in the sealed envelope? or will the story unfold like this one did?

July 8, 2010

The Dog Ate AstraZeneca's Homework! Evidence on Misleading Drug Ad Disappears From Company's Files | BNET Pharma Blog | BNET

AstraZeneca (AZN) says it has lost a crucial internal document that would explain how an ad for its antipsychotic Seroquel misleadingly claimed there was “no weight gain” with the drug and described its “favorable weight profile.” But the company admits it kept the six-year-old envelope that once allegedly contained the ad’s approval certificate, according to a ruling by the U.K.’s Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority.
The drug industry watchdog also alleges AZ’s Seroquel management team “pressured and manipulated” executives around them in order to make sure negative data on Seroquel was buried. The PMCPA ruled that AZ had breached its code of practice, which requires companies to operate in “a professional, ethical and transparent” manner.
If there’s a lesson here for managers, it’s this: Simply winning the legal war isn’t good enough. Consumers — and your own employees, as the Seroquel case shows — expect companies to go above and beyond. (AZ has mostly won the litigation filed against it which alleges the company failed to warn patients that Seroquel causes weight gain and diabetes. It settled with the Department of Justice for $520 million.)

via industry.bnet.com

Stay tuned!

AstraZeneca Seroquel - crime wave continues - It's just business as usual

2011-10-28T10:18:00.000-07:00

AstraZeneca is at it again, as has been suspected and predicted for decades now....the profitable business as usual model of running a criminal enterprise without accountability or consequences has been encouraged by our government & continues unabated. Remember those DOJ "get out of jail free" slap on the wrist fines, the supposed CIA (Corporate Integrity Agreement), and the ongoing laughable & unjust Seroquel civil litigation....nothing has changed; It's still always profits before public health, profits before law, profits before anything....As AstraZeneca is bragging in their quarterly stock holder statement about how profitable they are....there is always the following types of criminal behaviors going on in the background...how does anyone negotiate a reasonable settlement with these documented serial criminals...You might start to wonder how far & deep this profitable crime wave runs?
....and now on to the latest episode of "Corporate Criminals Without Borders"

Financial Times Reports - AstraZeneca indicted in Serbian corruption case

October 27, 2011 10:46 am

AstraZeneca indicted in Serbian corruption case

By Andrew Jack, Neil MacDonald and James Crabtree

AstraZeneca has been served with a criminal indictment by the Serbian authorities as part of a widening probe into alleged bribery by several pharmaceutical companies in the Balkan country.

The Anglo-Swedish drug group said it had filed legal objections with the courts requesting them to drop the actions since receiving the indictment in August, which relates to “allegedly improper payments to physicians.”

The action follows the arrests last year in Belgrade of senior officials at the Serbian Institute for Oncology and Radiology, as well as the heads of the Belgrade offices of AstraZeneca, Roche, Actavis, Sanofi-Aventis and PharmaSwiss, concerning payments of around €550,000 during 2007-09.
It comes as US and UK authorities are stepping up scrutiny of alleged corruption beyond their own borders, which has already led to a $70m settlement reached with Johnson & Johnson earlier this year concerning misconduct in Greece, Romania and Poland.

The news came as AstraZeneca posted third-quarter results in line with expectations while unveiling a higher, narrower 2011 core earnings per share target of between $7.20 and $7.40 per share. The company cited favourable exchange-rate movements and fewer shares outstanding following recent buy-backs as part of the reason for the increase.

In fresh disclosures on litigation, it also said it received earlier this month a subpoena from the US Department of Justice “in connection with an investigation of the possible submission of false or otherwise improper pricing information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.”

AstraZeneca gets the cash out to shareholders, chump change to Seroquel diabetes lawsuit victims: $ 759 million spent in legal defense

2011-10-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

Business as usual at AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca PLC Third Q 2011

What a relief! AstraZeneca shareholders gain while the injured Seroquel plaintiffs wait for their chump change settlement checks, which are no where in sight.

What would a day at AstraZeneca be like if there wasn't a subpoena from the Department of Justice?

"On 5 October 2011, AstraZeneca LP and AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP received a subpoena from the Department of Justice in connection with an investigation of the possible submission of false or otherwise improper pricing information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The precise parameters of this inquiry are unknown, and AstraZeneca is not in a position at this time to predict the scope, duration or outcome of this matter, including whether it will result in any liability to AstraZeneca. "

What would a day at AstraZeneca be like without a little unethical business practice?

Serbian Doctors recipients of alleged improper payments from AstraZeneca

"In August 2011, AstraZeneca UK Limited’s Representative Office in Belgrade, Serbia was served with a criminal indictment relating to allegations that local employees of AstraZeneca made allegedly improper payments to physicians at the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia. AstraZeneca has filed a number of preliminary procedural objections, which ask the Serbian criminal court to dismiss the indictment against the Representative Office."

The Miller Firm LLC, Garretson, and "YouHaveALawyer" Saiontz & Kirk,P.A. - AstraZeneca Seroquel Litigation - Appeal, The first thing we must do...

2011-10-09T15:52:00.000-07:00

Henry The Sixth, Part 2 Act 4, scene 2, 71–78

Dick the butcher, a character no one remembers, utters one of the few memorable lines from the entire three-part Henry the Sixth cycle. Dick's Utopian idea to kill all England's lawyers is his addition to the promises of the traitorous Jack Cade, who envisions a quasi-communistic social revolution, with himself installed as autocrat. Cade alleges that all lawyers do is shuffle parchments back and forth in a systematic attempt to ruin the common people. His demagoguery is simply a calculated appeal to simple folks' longing to be left alone. Yet one may recognize Cade's moral failings and still sympathize with Dick.

In 1987, three Supreme Court Justices convened for a mock trial, in which representatives of the poetaster Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford (1550–1604), challenged Shakespeare's authorship of the plays. The president of American University in Washington, D.C., which sponsored the event, "drew some nervous laughter from the legal contingent in the crowd," the New York Times reported, "when he yielded to the temptation to quote the world's most-quoted English author (whoever he was) by saying, 'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers. . . .'" Unsurprisingly, the justices ruled in favor of the Bard of Avon.

The Miller Firm LLC, Garretson, and "You Have A Lawyer" Saiontz & Kirk,P.A. - AstraZeneca Seroquel Litigation - Appeal, the first thing we must do...

Once again I have received correspondence from a reliable and trusted anonymous source related to the Seroquel Litigation. It appears while The Miller Firm LLC and the Garretson Resolution Group were sending out threatening intimidation letters to this Seroquel litigant over the disclosure of their token settlement secret backroom dealings with AstraZeneca; there was a settlement appeals letter sent to them that we may assume they were none to happy about.

My source passed along to me that they had called Saiontz & Kirk P.A. seeking information related a response to the settlement appeals letter that had been sent all the client law firms involved in this settlement proceedings. Saiontz & Kirk,P.A told my source that they had absolutely nothing to do with the Seroquel Litigation @ this juncture, and referred their supposed client to call the The Miller Firm to inquire about any information regarding the Seroquel litigation or settlement appeal letter.

That’s some invested representative co-counsel, which is taking a nice chunk of 40% of the 40% + Expenses & Fees the lawyers will take from this settlement offer if approved? I can only guess that Saiontz & Kirk are too busy drumming up new clients to sell off to other law firms right now to be concerned about a client they sold to another law firm and subsequently down the proverbial river…. I guess “You Have A Lawyer” really means “You Had A Lawyer - Who Doesn’t Give A Damn”. Let us look at this combined partial list of drug and device case pimping that is occurring from The Miller Firm & Saiontz & Kirk below…

Zimmer Knee Replacement

Hip Replacement Injury

Shoulder Pain Pump

Kugel Mesh Hernia Patch

NuvaRing

Yaz / Yasmin

Reglan (Metoclopramide)

Gadolinium based MRI Contrast Agents

NuvaRing

Byetta

Fentanyl (Duragesic Patch / Actiq Lollipop)

DePuy ASR Hip Recall

DePuy Pinnacle Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacement

Wright Profemur Hip Replacement

Zimmer Durom Cup Artificial Hip Replacement Lawsuits

Zimmer NexGen Knee Replacements

Transvaginal Surgical Mesh

Bard Avaulta Vaginal Mesh Problems

Mentor ObTape Vaginal Sling

Bard Recovery IVC Filter and Bard G2 IVC Filter

MRI with Contrast

Denture Cream: Fixodent and PoliGrip

Yamaha Rhino ATV

Shoulder Pain Management Pumps

Kugel Hernia Repair Mesh

Then my source called those (not so friendly) people over at the The Miller Firm.

Who was put throught to Kate Hamilton that my source shared was curt in her response to their inquirer about the appeals letter…She said it would get passed along to their nurses for review (Obviously Hamilton had either not read the appeals letter or was just sloughing it off as another meaningless client correspondence that would be not taken seriously). Hamilton did state that they “The Miller Firm” would get something out for their client to have posted on “That Blog” (I can only guess Kate is a big fan of this blog) as soon as they can…there must be nothing quite like the warm caring cordial communication feeling a client receives with a firm that is supposed to be representing their “Best Interest”.

But then again Mr. Miller stated in this Reuters News Article ,that the intimidation letter signed by him was not written or sent by him…..Now that’s what you call an exemplary client trust building moment folks…

I can only take a gander that it was one of those “if the pen doesn’t fit you must acquit” or “I never had sex with that women” historical lapse moments…

Below is listed the Miller Firm staff of ten lawyers that are supposedly handling not only 600 plus cases in the Seroquel litigation; but untold numbers of cases in other pharmaceutical & defective product litigation etc...

Michael J. Miller , Julie B Isen, Pete Miller, Nancy Guy Armstrong Miller, Bruce Burtoff, M.D., J.D., Tayjes Shah, Nathan Cromley, David J. Dickens, Jeffrey Travers, Kate E. S. Hamilton

Readers should really check out their web site miller firm llc …I would hope someone can answer for me how a firm with just ten lawyers can adequately serve and prepare thousands of cases for trial from a myriad of different pharmaceutical and defective product litigation's at the same time: while still continually advertising and taking on clients from other law firms for even more cases…. I would really like to know how the Miller Law Firm pulls off this type of seemingly Herculean task against some of the Biggest Corporations in the world and their mammoth legal teams without taking some precarious short cuts, or by sacrificing their individual clients’ best interest in the process…?

Of course, when we look at the Seroquel litigation & the settlement documentation they are now marketing to their clients; we can see much more clearly that this appears to be a settle & profit business first and foremost…Clients appear to be little more than damaged human bargaining chips to be tossed around secret backroom gambling tables in their WIN even when we LOSE litigation poker game….high stakes poker without ever the risk of having to ante up…now, if this isn’t an organized posy scheme…I would like to know how else you would define one?

It appears Mr. Miller likes to make lots of video’s where he feeds the public & clients half baked lawyer speak squawking platitudes in broad generalizations that leaves many more questions than real answers to clients; yet when clients actually call the Miller Firm wanting vital & important information regarding their personal litigation…they get a continual run around, a lack of or misinformation; along with substandard & poor quality service, including little or no personal understanding & attention injured clients should expect & deserve from their supposed responsible & professional legal representation…

Can we assume that the next letters theses ambulance/FDA warning chaser law firms will be sending out; will it be a mass mailing dropping any client that don't go along with their huge profitable for the law firm settlement pay day, while leaving those actual injured parties that they had & still have an ethical and professional obligation to serve in the clients' best interest,
will be left without any reasonable semblance of justice or acceptable representation into the foreseeable future?

Just possibly Shakespeare was correct.....

Blindsided by Seroquel: 29 year old suffers sudden loss of vision after 3 years of use for bipolar disorder

2011-10-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

Branch retinal vein occlusion associated with quetiapine fumarate

Abstract from Bio Med Central

Background

To report a case of branch retinal vein occlusion in a young adult with bipolar mood disorder treated with quetiapine fumarate.

Case Presentation

A 29 years old gentleman who was taking quetiapine fumarate for 3 years for bipolar mood disorder, presented with sudden vision loss. He was found to have a superior temporal branch retinal vein occlusion associated with hypercholesterolemia.

Conclusion

Atypical antipsychotic drugs have metabolic side effects which require regular monitoring and prompt treatment.

Background

Retinal vein occlusions (RVOs) frequently occur in the elderly in association with atherosclerosis. Hypertension is the commonest cause of RVOs in such population. In young adults, RVOs are associated with vasculitis and coagulopathies. Extensive work-up is required as both vasculitis and coagulopathies can lead to severe systemic morbidity and mortality. We describe a case of branch retinal vein occlusion in a young adult who has been taking quetiapine fumarate for 3 years.

Case Presentation

A 29 years old gentleman was referred from the emergency department with the complaint of sudden painless vision loss of his left eye for the past 1 week. Since onset, he experienced progressive generalized blurring of the central vision. There was neither photopsia nor floaters. Systemic review was not significant. He has no symptoms and signs of systemic vasculitis such as rashes, joint pains or mucosal surface ulcers. He was diagnosed of bipolar mood disorder in 2008, and was treated with oral quetiapine fumarate 100 mg daily. His bipolar mood disorder responded well to quetiapine fumarate without any side effects. Sexual history was not significant and he has no history of substance abuse or smoking. There was no family history of vascular events as well.

He was a medium built individual with a body mass index of 24.83 kg/m²(height 165.5 cm, body weight 68 kg). His body weight prior to quetiapine treatment was 62 kg. Blood pressure was 122/74 mmHg with a regular pulse rate of 80 beats per minute. The visual acuity of his left eye was 0.33, with near visual acuity of N24 at 33 cm. The right eye had visual acuity of 1.0 and near vision of N6 at 33 cm. Confrontation test revealed a left central scotoma. Relative afferent pupillary defect was absent. Anterior segment examination for both eyes was normal. The intraocular pressure was 16 mmHg bilaterally.

Posterior segment examination of the left eye revealed flame-shaped retinal haemorrhages along an arcuate course, corresponding to the supero-temporal retinal nerve fibre layer. Macular oedema involved the fovea and was associated with partial macular star due to hard exudates deposition. Intraretinal pigmentary spots with adjacent typical red blot hemorrhages believed to be resolving blot hemorrhages were seen. The patient has never had any laser treatment before. The supero-temporal retinal vein was dilated and tortuous along its entire course (Figure 1). The arterio-venous ratio was 2:3 infero-temporally but was 1:3 supero-temporally. There were increased arteriole reflexes with arterovenous nicking which was confined only to the supero-temporal retinal artery of the left eye. The optic disc was pink with well-defined margin and cup-disc ratio of 0.5. There was another area of flame-shaped retinal haemorrhages, two-disc diameter temporal to the fovea. The retinal haemorrhages were oriented along the distal infero-temporal retinal nerve fiber layer but did not begin at the retinal artery-vein intersection. The infero-temporal retinal vein was neither dilated nor tortuous (Figure 2). There were no cotton wool spots, the vitreous was clear, and there was no evidence of retinal periarteritis or periphlebitis. Posterior segment findings of the right eye were not significant (Figure 3).

Figure 1. Fundus photograph of the left eye; macula centered.

Figure 2. Fundus photograph of the left eye; temporal retinal field.

Figure 3. Fundus photograph of the right eye.

Optical coherence tomography (Heidelberg Spectralis ^®Tracking Laser Tomography) revealed the thickness of the superior half of the fovea was increased, with central serous neurosensory retinal detachment (Figure 4). Full blood count, renal profile, liver function test and thyroid function test were all normal. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 3 mm/hour, C-reactive protein was 0.05 mg/dl. Connective tissue screening test (antinuclear antibodies, anti double-stranded DNA antibodies, rheumatoid factor), Venereal Disease Research Laboratory test and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for human immunodeficiency virus were all negative. Fasting blood sugar was 4.7 mmol/L. However, annual lipid profile showed progressive derangement. The total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL-cholesterol levels showed an increasing trend. While the HDL-choleterol levels were progressing in the opposite direction (Table 1). Chest radiography was normal.

The patient was diagnosed to have left major superior temporal branch retinal vein occlusion complicated by macula oedema. The cause of the RVO was attributed to dyslipidaemia secondary to quetiapine fumarate. The condition was conveyed to his psychiatrist, and he was subsequently referred to the internist for the management of his dyslipidaemia. The patient was treated with oral lovastatin 20 mg daily. His lipid profile normalized after 2 months but the final visual acuity remained 0.33 and near visual acuity N24 at 33 cm due to the presence of hard exudates at the fovea.

Discussion

Retinal vascular diseases are ocular manifestations of underlying systemic vascular disorders. The eyes are the only place in the body which allow direct visualization of the blood vessels. Therefore fundus examination offers a valuable opportunity for the early detection of occult systemic vascular disorders. Cugati et al in his analysis of 2 population-based cohorts (Beaver Dam Eye Study and Blue Mountains Eye Study) found out that participants aged less than 70 years old with retinal vein occlusion (RVO) at baseline were associated with higher cardiovascular mortality [1].

Being a part of the entity, RVO is the second most common retinal vascular disease after diabetic retinopathy. The true prevalence of retinal vein occlusive disorder is difficult to establish as many of them are asymptomatic and only diagnosed incidentally, unless it is complicated and visual disturbances manifest. Peripheral branch RVOs are asymptomatic. Symptomatic RVOs are due to macular involvement in which patients present loss of central vision. Macula oedema is the major cause of central visual loss in RVOs [2]. Nonetheless, data from longitudinal population based study has lead the Blue Mountain Eye Study to conclude the 10-year cumulative incidence of RVO to be at 1.6%, and it was greatly associated with increasing age especially those above 70 years old [3].

Although the vast majority of RVO are found in the middle aged and elderly population, it can affect young adults too. In a retrospective review of 60 cases, Lam et al found that only 1.7% of all branch retinal vein occlusions (BRVO) occurred in individual aged 49 or younger. Systemic hypertension, hyperlipidemia and increased body mass index are important risk factors for BRVO in this group of patients [4]. However, Lam et al did not test their young subjects for hypercoagulability or collagen vascular disease, and therefore they cannot comment on the need for more extensive work-up for such patients.

Quetiapine fumarate is a second generation antipsychotics that is currently in use for the treatment of many psychiatric disorders. Unlike the older phenothiazine-type drugs, these atypical antipsychotics block both the dopamine-2 receptor and the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor; hence making them a versatile group of drug to treat a wide variety of psychiatric disorders [5]. Another advantage of these second generation antipsychotics is the lower incidence of extrapyramidal side effects and tardive dyskinesia. The safety of these new atypical antipsychotics compared to the older phenothiazines is uncertain as they can cause serious adverse drug reactions.

Atypical antipsychotic agents increase the risk of glucose intolerance, dyslipidaemia and weight gain [6]. Quetiapine fumarate has been associated with high triglycerides in 23 percent and high cholesterol in 16 percent of patients taking it [7]. Olfson et al found that treatment with quetiapine was associated with increased risk of incidence of hyperlipidaemia (odds ratio:1.52, 95% CI: 1.40-1..65) [8]. Our patient had a normal baseline laboratory results, but went on to develop dyslipidaemia following 2 years of quetiapine treatment. Even though there is a link between dyslipidaemia and BRVO, the evidence in this case is not very strong since the patient's dyslipidaemia was not severe. Nevertheless, we must be vigilant and intervene at the first sign of dyslipidaemia before the patient develops central retinal vein occlusion, stroke or any cardiovascular event. In 2004, the American Diabetes Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and the North American Association for the Study of Obesity consensus statement recommended that fasting plasma glucose, lipid levels, and blood pressure should also be assessed 3 months after initiation of antipsychotic medications. In those with a normal lipid profile, repeat testing should be performed at 5-year intervals or more frequently if clinically indicated [9].

The subtle worsening dyslipidaemia in this patient resulted in a thrombogenic environment that led to the development of BRVO. The localized increased arteriole reflexes with arteriovenous nicking found only along the right supero-temporal retinal artery were believed to be the sequelae of BRVO rather than the cause of it. This is due to hypoxia which induced localized microglial cells proliferation along the right supero-temporal retinal artery [10].

There was a smaller zone of flame shaped haemorrhages at the inferior temporal arcade. Features characteristic for a branch retinal vein occlusion were absent in this area. The presence of a peripheral branch retinal vein occlusion at this area is very difficult to prove without fluorescein angiography. We did not perform fluorescein angiography at the time of diagnosis because we felt that the risk outweighed the benefit, since the confirmation of the second smaller inferior temporal BRVO will not alter our management. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first case of BRVO associated with quetiapine. This case report emphasize the importance of regular monitoring and prompt intervention of any metabolic derangement in order to avert severe morbidity and mortality.

Conclusions

RVOs in young adults require careful systemic evaluation for the presence of cardiovascular risk factors as well as to exclude hypercoagulabilities or collagen vascular diseases. The usage of antipsychotics medications require regular monitoring and prompt intervention for any metabolic side effects and adverse drug reactions.

Seroquel Lawsuit Blog

AstraZeneca Seroquel - The Miller Firm LLC & Saiontz & Kirk, P.A."You Had a Lawyer" more lies and deception related to the Seroquel Litigation - Feb. 2012 Update

AstraZeneca Seroquel - The Miller Firm LLC & Saiontz & Kirk, P.A."You Had a Lawyer" more lies and deception related to the Seroquel Litigation - Feb. 2012 Update

Yet, as in their usual seedy pattern of ignoring the clients they are supposedly representing; The Miller Firm is continuing to market this doomed settlement agreement in spite of the neon colored writing spray painted upon the wall "REJECTED".

So what is likely to happen going forward?

The Miller Firm LLC and (non-participating co-counsel Saiontz & Kirk, P.A.) have stated they have absolutely no intention of taking any cases to trial (and it's seems pretty clear by now that they never have intended to take any cases to trial; just settle quick & cash in).

1. AstraZeneca simply walks away from the settlement (knowing all to well that The Miller Firm LLC is not prepared & is assuredly unmotivated/unlikely to take a single case to trial) saving themselves approximating seven million dollars with little or no risk involved.

2. AstraZeneca decides to change the terms of the settlement & drop all approval percentage thresholds (I'm thinking the court would have to approve this move?) & clear the slate of potential future litigation with roughly 6 out of 10 Miller Firm Litigants.

It has become crystal clear that getting straight and honest answers from The Miller Firm LLC is pretty much impossible. They again have misrepresented themselves & have been shown to be liars by not following through on what they told their client last week.

What the Miller is not providing their clients: is what further demands is AstraZeneca asking for now. It has become beyond clear at the this juncture, that the 93% approval needed to make this settlement fly is not going to happen ever.

If anyone reading would like to weigh in on this topic, or has pertinent information they would like to share, or has information about Law Firms that are interested in taking on & ethically representing discarded Seroquel injured parties cases; please leave a comment or send this blog an email.

AstraZeneca Seroquel - The Miller Firm LLC & Saiontz & Kirk, P.A. "You Had a Lawyer" to begin mass client dump in Seroquel Litigation

AstraZeneca Seroquel - The Miller Firm LLC & Saiontz & Kirk, P.A."You Had a Lawyer" to begin mass client dump in Seroquel Litigation

So after years of waiting patiently and much long suffering, this is what 250+ injured clients (40%) will receive from these firms in return for innocently entrusting these unethical, rude, secretive, shady, & solely self serving law firms with their well evidenced injury cases.

AstraZeneca's Seroquel diabetes lawsuit is not over: Miller Firm didn't make the 93% needed for settlement

"AstraZeneca to Pay $198 Million for Seroquel Lawsuits"

AstraZeneca Seroquel - a father's anguish - Government killed his son by way of prescription pad

Cash Rich AstraZeneca pacifying stock holders with 5bn dollar buy back, while continuing criminal business as usual

AstraZeneca to return billions to shareholders

Cash-rich drugs giant to keep investors happy with another huge buyback worth up to $5bn

Mark Leftly and Laura Chesters Sunday January 29, 2012

AstraZeneca, the FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant, will announce an estimated $3bn (£2bn) extension to its share buyback programme this week.

Ohio doctor wrote nine AstraZeneca Seroquel prescriptions per hour . Senator targeting big prescribers

Senate Watchdog Targets High-Prescribing Medicaid Docs

UPDATE: J&J Risperdal - TEXAS "TMAP" TRIAL "GUILTY" - Settles for Chump Change - AstraZeneca Seroquel Next?

UPDATE: J&J Risperdal anti-psychotic drug - TEXAS TMAP TRIAL "GUILTY" then settles for chump change while admitting to no liability or fault - corporate crime pays very well - will AstraZeneca & Seroquel be next?

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Latest Update highlights from the Washingtonpost Thursday, January 19, 2:09 PM

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary settles Texas lawsuit over anti-psychotic drug for $158 million

By Associated Press

UPDATE:

J&J to pay $158 million to settle Risperdal case

-------------------------------------------------

from 1 Boring Old Man blog

Posted on Thursday 19 January 2012

Nenad Borojević, former head of the Institute of Radiology and Oncology in Belgrade & The Doctor at the center of AstraZeneca's Bribery & Violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act was found hanging in a forest

IM: Death of ex-Oncology Institute head was suicide

AstraZeneca Indicted In Serbia For Alleged Bribery

The Texas J&J Risperdal Trial Begins - just the tip of the criminal TMAP & Teen-Screen iceberg

AstraZeneca Seroquel - More evidence tying Seroquel use to the development of Diabetes and related conditions

AstraZeneca Seroquel - More evidence tying Seroquel use to the development of Diabetes and related conditions

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AstraZeneca Seroquel - NEW DEAR DOCTOR WARNING LETTER - Dec. 2011 - but wasn't their litigation defense based on their claim that Seroquel doesn't cause diabetes?

Federal Judge subverts justice once again - Is Bayer Yaz going to be the next AstraZeneca Seroquel

You are not a real person, an actual face, or a feeling human being that has suffered an injustice & injury by blatant corporate malfeasance to them. You are just simply a numbers calculation, one of many nameless & faceless thousands they intend to use as bargaining chips for profit .

_____________________________________________________________

Judge calls off Yaz trial, orders suits into mediation

AstraZeneca Seroquel Injury Lawsuit - Year End Update & Review 2011

Student spikes brownies with AstraZeneca's antipsychotic Seroquel

AstraZeneca Seroquel - the continued marketing of death & mayhem for profit - what about the victims?

Inspector Highlights Psych Drug Use Among Elderly

Why Are So Many Foster Care Children Taking Antipsychotics?

Dr. Ramesh Raghaven:"we are forced to rely on psychotropic drugs to carry the burden" of psychosocial treatment and care of foster kids: antipsychotics,Seroquel,Zyprexa, Risperdal and more

Drugs Used for Psychotics Go to Youths in Foster Care

By BENEDICT CAREY

Published: November 20, 2011

Foster children are being prescribed cocktails of powerful antipsychosis drugs just as frequently as some of the most mentally disabled youngsters onMedicaid, a new study suggests.

Big Tobacco, Big Pharma, Big Plans to take on the antidepressant market: AstraZeneca and Targacept

Abstract

Hundreds of Soldiers & Vets Dying From AstraZeneca Antipsychotic--Seroquel

Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD & Stan White (Father of Deceased Veteran, Andrew White) disclose the following:

AstraZeneca Indicted for Bribery - pharmaceutical corporate crime wave continues unabated - What CIA ?

November 7, 2011

By Samuel Rubenfeld

The Miller Firm LLC, Garretson, and "You Have A Lawyer" Saiontz & Kirk,P.A. - AstraZeneca Seroquel Litigation - The envelope please, open the damned envelope - the losers are ??

How the AstraZeneca Seroquel Plaintiff Law Firms have turned a "TORT" into a very profitable bastardized version of class action

...and the winner is, Garretson Resolution Group and the Miller Firm ... the envelope please!

AstraZeneca Seroquel - crime wave continues - It's just business as usual

AstraZeneca indicted in Serbian corruption case

AstraZeneca gets the cash out to shareholders, chump change to Seroquel diabetes lawsuit victims: $ 759 million spent in legal defense

AstraZeneca PLC Third Q 2011

The Miller Firm LLC, Garretson, and "YouHaveALawyer" Saiontz & Kirk,P.A. - AstraZeneca Seroquel Litigation - Appeal, The first thing we must do...

Blindsided by Seroquel: 29 year old suffers sudden loss of vision after 3 years of use for bipolar disorder