In the U.S., big pharmacuetical ( Big Pharma) companies make huge amounts of profit with prescription drugs. But just because drugs are FDA approved does not mean it’s safe for you. Especially the side effects that could do more harm then good.
Last December, the FDA require that epileptic drugs used by millions of patients to control epileptic seizures must carry warnings about heightened risks of suicide. Anti-seizure drugs are used for a variety of illnesses besides epilepsy. These include migraines, nerve-pain disorders, and psychiatric diseases such as bipolar disorder. The warnings include 21 medications, including GlaxoSmithKline’s Lamictal, Johnson & Johnson’s Topamax and Pfizer’s Lyrica.
Red or blue pills? Certain colors may effect how you feel about taking them too. Photo from Getty Images via AOL.
John Kopchinski, a former Pfizer sales representative won a lawsuit against his employer today. A summary from Reuters News on September 3, 2009; “Kopchinski, appalled by Pfizer’s tactics in selling the pain drug Bextra, filed a “qui tam” lawsuit in 2003, sparking federal and state probes that led to Wednesday’s agreement by the company to pay $2.3 billion in civil and criminal penalties and plead guilty to a felony charge for promoting Bextra and 12 other drugs for unapproved uses and doses.”
Kopchinski was awarded $51.5 million as a result of his lawsuit. The amount is probably just a drop in the Big Pharma bucket. Pfizer’s sales was $44.2 billion last year. According to pharmaceutical research firm IMS Health, seizure drugs were the fifth bestselling class of drugs in the U.S. last year, with sales over $10 billion. And in the U.S., half of Americans take antidepressant drugs.
Kopchinski and five other whistleblowers will earn more than $102 million in payments from the U.S. government. This is under the False Claims Act where individuals can reap rewards for exposing corporate wrongdoing. That sounds like a good reward and I’ve never heard of such a law until now.
Go Kopchinski!
Resources:
Suicide warning added to epilepsy drugs in U.S.
FDA put out warning on Youtube.
For alternative and herbal reports, see Healthy Fruit of the Jungle: Camu-Camu
2:56 am on September 5th, 2009
It’s scary, one of my co-workers was recently diagnosed with epileptic seizures and they told her that it could be controlled with medication, I wonder which one.
1:33 am on September 6th, 2009
Maybe when your co-worker becomes more depress or suicidal, then you will know it’s one of these drugs. They have to be careful, as weening out of it is just as scary too.