Posted by Bill LL on May 4, 2004, at 8:34:44
In reply to Re: my appointment today with my so-called doctor, posted by harryp on May 4, 2004, at 4:31:50
I didn't think of that, but I totally agree with you!
> Uhh. You're making a good point, but I'm not sure this is the example I would choose...
>
> I would rather take Lupron than have my testicles cut off!
>
> :-)
>
> > Read this article from yesterday's news. I can give you some more background info that is not in this article. Years a go, TAP artificially inflated the "Red Book" price of Lupron in order to get (trick) Medicare to pay the doctors more for giving this drug to their patients. As a result, doctors decided to do more Lupron therapy (a lot more) than the alternative treatment which is orchiectomy.
> >
> > So doctors actually changed their practice patterns in response to payment increases from Medicare.
> >
> > Drug Maker TAP Defends Marketing Practice
> > By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
> >
> > Published: April 21, 2004
> >
> > Filed at 3:15 p.m. ET
> >
> > BOSTON (AP) -- Dinners and tickets to sporting events that a drug company gave to doctors weren't bribes, but small tokens meant to build good will so the doctors would prescribe its drugs, lawyers argued Wednesday.
> >
> > Eleven current and former executives and sales managers at Lake Forest, Ill.-based TAP Pharmaceutical Products are charged with giving bribes and kickbacks to doctors to boost the sales of TAP's prostate cancer drug, Lupron, and its heartburn drug, Prevacid.
> >
> > Prosecutors say the employees conspired to defraud the federal Medicare and Medicaid programs by urging doctors to bill the government for free samples of their drugs.
> >
> > They also claim the TAP employees lavished doctors with trips to golf and ski resorts, expensive dinners and other incentives to get them to prescribe their drugs.
> >
> > But in court Wednesday, defense lawyers said in opening statements that the TAP employees offered gifts only to ``build good will'' with doctors, and never suggested that they bill the government for free drug samples.
> >
> > Robert Sherman, an attorney for Donna Tom, a district sales manager for TAP from 1997 to 1999, showed the jury a memo in which one of Tom's sales staff described taking a doctor and his son to a Yankees game.
> >
> > ``That, ladies and gentlemen, the government says is a kickback,'' Sherman said in his opening statement.
> >
> > ``Everything that was provided to doctors was done to build good will ... the way it's done in every industry,'' he said.
> >
> > The case is being closely watched by the drug industry and the medical profession, which have both been criticized in recent years for giving and receiving gifts. Critics say that drives up the already high costs of prescription drugs and erodes public confidence in doctors.
> >
> > The trial is expected to last six months.
> >
>
>
poster:Bill LL
thread:338469
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040429/msgs/343148.html