WebMD
Mercury Amalgam Fillings: Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics by Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION
Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability
http://www.ahrp.org and
http://ahrp.blogspot.com
FYI
New revelations in an unsealed whistleblower-initiated lawsuit filed
in Boston add yet another dimension to the scope and magnitude of
corruption that has derailed American medicine--the focus is tainted
Continuing Medical Education.
Below, Merrill Goozner (GoozNews) reports that "a federal court in
Boston unsealed a whistleblower-initiated lawsuit backed by 17 states
and the District of Columbia that accused WebMD and Medscape of being
part of an illegal conspiracy to promote the off-label use of two of
Amgen's flagship products -- Aranesp for anemia and Enbrel for
rheumatoid arthritis.
In addition to allegations of kickbacks for physicians, concealing the
wholesale price from government payers, and distributing free samples
to physicians which clinics are encouraged to bill Medicaid and
Medicare, the complaint also accused Amgen of "conspiring to market
Aranesp and Embrel for off-label purposes through the website
www.medscape.com" and "conspiring to
promote Aranesp and Embrel
through an online Continuing Medical Education program" contained on
the website.
GoozNews reports that the section of the complaint entitled
"Defendants'
Illegal Use of Medscape: The 'Branding' of Disease States for Aranesp
and
Embrel," 16 of 19 paragraphs were redacted by the judge --thus keeping the
details of the charges against WebMD and Medscape a mystery. However, the
complaint states that:
"The scheme was to increase market share through the covert
commercialization of CME programs," the complaint said.
Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
veracare@ahrp.org
212-595-8974