FRAUDULENT SLIP

Forest Accused of Fraud re: Celexa and Lexapro

My goodness, we haven't seen the Justice Department this active in pharma cases in a very long time. But after the recent major DOJ actions against Lilly/Zyprexa and Pfizer/Bextra, it looks like Forest's promotion of Celexa/Lexapro (mirror images of the same molecule) is the next target. This according to the New York times, as described here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/business/26drug.html?ref=business

As described in the article, the charges will remind most of us of Paxil--suppressing negative studies on the antidepressant, and particularly regarding its effect on kids. Suicidality appears to be, yet again, part of what remained unreported. And all this in the context of unapproved promotion and, it appears, some whistleblowers within the company.

From the perspective of this observer, it does appear that the Justice Department is reviving itself. This is not to say it has all happened in the last few weeks. Cases like this take years to develop. But perhaps there is a new commitment to actually friggin do something.

Pardon my Scottish.