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Healthy Skepticism Library item: 16880

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

 

Publication type: Electronic Source

Goldstein J
Antipsychotic Drugs, Elderly Patients and Omnicare’s Settlement
The Wall Street Journal Blog 2009 Nov 4
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/11/04/antipsychotic-drugs-elderly-patients-and-the-omnicare-settlement/


Full text:

So Omnicare, a big pharmacy that specializes in providing drugs to nursing-home patients, will pay $98 million to settle allegations that the company “solicited or paid a variety of kickbacks,” according to this statement from the feds.

The WSJ story gets into all the details, but one wrinkle in particular caught our eye: Omnicare was accused of soliciting and receiving kickbacks from J&J in exchange for recommending the company’s antipsychotic drug Risperdal.

This touches on the broader issue of the widespread use of antipsychotic drugs among nursing home patients. Risperdal, like other drugs in its class, comes with this warning: “Elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death.”

Risperdal isn’t approved for treating mental problems that stem from dementia. Nevertheless, as the Chicago Tribune reported last week and the WSJ reported in 2007, Risperdal and other antipsychotics have been widely used for nursing-home patients with dementia (though there have been efforts to curb use of the drugs).

It’s not illegal for doctors to prescribe drugs for unapproved uses. But it is illegal for drug companies to encourage unapproved uses in their marketing.

A J&J spokesman referred the WSJ to the company’s most recent 10-Q, which disclosed that employees have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in a related investigation.

Omnicare said in a statement that the settlement “does not include any finding of wrongdoing or any admission of liability by Omnicare. The company said it “denies the contentions of the federal government” and said it agreed to the settlement “in order to avoid expensive and time-consuming litigation.”

 

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