Peter Rost, M.D., is a former Pfizer Marketing Vice President providing services as a medical device and drug expert witness and pharmaceutical marketing expert. Judge Sanders: "The court agrees with defendants' view that Dr. Rost is a very adept and seasoned expert witness." He is also the author of Emergency Surgery, The Whistleblower and Killer Drug. You can reach him on rostpeter (insert symbol) hotmail.com. Follow on https://twitter.com/peterrost
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Big pharma: Richer than trolls.
One group of companies that don't worry about credit crisis:
Look at # 2, NVS, Novartis. All cash no credit. This company has been like that for ever. Self financed and always huge amounts of cash on hand. Sandoz was especially rich in cash and did not believe in other peoples money. CibaGeigy close and when they mergered they put together an enormous amount of cash.One of the main reasons these two mergered was a fear that some predatory US bigpharam would move in on them and take them over. This way no one can tuch Novartis. There is no money in anyone's hands to buy them. This fact also dictate their approach to marketing of their product. Or should I say "buying" the selling of their products. Translation: brivery, payoffs, fake clims and fake honoraria paid to their hired mouthpieces and so on are the way they do/buy business. They are very good at it. So far in no juristiction Novartis got caught and exposed for what they are doing. The misconduct they do is so subtle and so disguised that very few can see that it is misconduct (catch word for everything illegal). I should know. I have done so much bribing, paying off etc. that if I had only 2% of that money now for myself, I'd be laughing all the way to proverbial bank. As for the NVS wise guys, they never admit anything, just keep their noses to the grind stone and keep collecting that cash for the big mama. Now you know the sicret of this unusually rich and powerful company. They think no one can touch them, for they are untouchables in their own mind,. Some of us don't think so and are doing some work that will change all this, quite soon in non-US juristiction, first.
I wonder how many Novartis reps have (or have not) yet reported these frauds to the feds and filed false claims act cases. It's hard to ever know with the backlog of so many drug fraud cases and court ordered seals that extend in perpetuity.
Dr. Rost posted the following from cafe pharma and brandweek earlier this year . . .
http://www.brandweeknrx.com/2008/01/novartis-reps-c.html January 07, 2008
Novartis reps claim speakers programs gone wild: Doctors bribed $280,000 in one territory. If the people who pay the money think it is a bribe, is it a bribe? Not necessarily. But the effect may be the same. Here are two opinions from Novartis sales reps. WARNING: The language does not adhere to Brandweek standards, however, we have chosen not to censor the original wording. (If you can't stand it, don't read it):
REP 1:
I paid out about $40,000 in honorariums this year. There are 8, well 7 people in my pod, each doing about the same amount of programs (payoffs). That's about $280,000 just in "speaker" honorariums (payoffs) in my territory. Not to mention, probably another 100,000 just in meal costs. Fucking ridiculous. This company is raping reps left and right with bonuses and goals, and still pushing for more programs (payoffs). What a waste of money. I heard this new company managing the programs gets 15% of the cost we pay for each program. Are you kidding me? This company is doing everything wrong. I would feel better about this company if we just left pharma code or whatever organization we joined, and just let us pay off the docs. At least this way it is what it is a payoff, not a program with 3 of the docs gp friends. Everyone in the medical community knows these programs are just a way to line the docs pockets...that's part of the reason why so many docs come out. They know that the speaker is getting paid, and don't trust their judgement or opinion on the drugs. Out of the $40,000 I paid out in honorariums for programs, I definitely did not get any return on investment. How can the company justify doing this? It is a waste of time and money. No one and I mean no one in the field cares about these programs. Docs don't care about these programs. 1 a month / pod would be just fine. We might actually be able to get a lot out to one program /month if all 7 of us weren't begging docs everyday to come to this program mon, that program tues, her program wed, his program thurs. every week of the month. How's this for my sales calls this year. Doc here's an invite to my program tues, her program tomorrow night, this one is for m, that for next wed, etc, oh yeah sign here. No medical discussion, no selling, no begging even for a script. This company sucks, has it priorities up someone's ass, does not have a grip on reality, and instead of figuring out ways to save money in areas that that really need to be addressed ("payoffs" aka speaker programs), they steal from reps bonuses, and triple goals to steal from reps future bonues). Fuck this company, I hope every Novartis drug goes generic 10 years before it is supposed to. I hope no Novartis drug makes it to market for safety reasons. I hope the fda pulls more Novartis approved drugs off the market for safety concerns, I hope employees continue to start class action law suits. I hope the companies stock price gets even shittier than it is. Fuck you Novartis, Have a shitty new year. You ended my year shitty, by fudging my bonus, tripling my goals, so I can't obtain a t3 bonus next year, and I'll be sure to be reminded of that everytime I leave my house to go to work next year. My plan is to do as little of nothing for as long as possible. Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck You
REP2:
Hey I feel your pain but remember someone is benefiting from these programs, the docs that are paid off. They prescribe the drugs , novartis makes its profit. Docs don't lose out if our goals are quadrupled. You are training these Docs to get a check which is another benefit to Novartis , you get bumped & the next rep continues the payoff tradition.
These strategies are all aimed at marginalizing the rep & his/her relationships & getting the prescribers used to a system. In this case you're just a money delivery system.
As for these 3rd party vendors , don't think for a minute some high level muckity muck at corporate isn't getting their palm MAJOR greased by these, for lack of a better term, useless added expenses aka Genesis &/or Alliance HC.
Save your documentation , Novartis may be walking a legal tightrope with these payoffs/programs but they would NEVER win in the court of public opinion & heads would seriously roll if the magnitude & scope of this flagrant bribery scheme ever gets publicized.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
PS- Notice how you no longer get Honararium Forms ?
REP 3: And then there is the program in the St. Louis area last year in which a doctor attendee brought his priest friend who brought 8-10 high-school aged kids that were part of the church youth group. Managers were present for the speaker program. The kids were disruptive and eating and drinking on Novartis' dime, and the whole thing was swept under the rug. Absolutely nothing was done by the manager attending the program, and she knew they were teenagers and not medical. Of course nothing was done to the manager either for letting it go on. The investigative journalists should dig into this one.
We know a guy who provided incredible inside info and evidence of wrongdoings at this CO, but was not in US juristiction. However the guy knew that there was a pattern of behavior of Cos' management for all the Western world's countries. They use tried and true methods that are at least unethical and at worse criminal and everything in between. This is how it works, say East Hanover site uses these fake honoraria to pay off their doctors/speakers so they would use more of their Diovan for insatnce. It works like a charm. Big time KOL (key opinion leaders) go for it to make some serious monies and increase their Rxing of Diovan plus influence others (GPs) to use it more. The sales of Diovan go up siginficanty and they know the bribery of KOL works. Marketing guys for Diovan in Canada find out about this and how successful it was. They get details from EH and develop something exactly the same or very similar. It works here too. Next thing you know the German, French, Austrian, Italian, Swiss and all other affiliates are doing the same thing and the sales of Diovan go up so much that it becomes #1 ARB in the world. In fact this is what happened in case of Diovan. The company used number of business practices that would not pass any leagal or ethical test anywhere except in some God forsaken criminal states like Albania and now Bush's approved, Kosovo. Back to the info. It was given to a group of experienced and well finanaced experts who look for proof of illegal stuff done by BigPharma in USA. After a very intensive search and investigation they could not crack this nut. They uncovered lot od wrong stuff but the key needed to unlock it all was missing. They maybe still at it but their chances are small for this Co is like any well organized mafia, they stick to their omerta and know how to cover things up. Others are woking on different levels and juristictions for we know they are "doing" it and will remain a big prize in this game. We will not give up and anyone else at it, please don't. They are not untouchable.
4 comments:
All of those Pharma yahoos better watch it. If they even think about givin' Joad Cressbeckler the stinkeye they'll get what the other seven did.
Look at # 2, NVS, Novartis. All cash no credit. This company has been like that for ever. Self financed and always huge amounts of cash on hand. Sandoz was especially rich in cash and did not believe in other peoples money. CibaGeigy close and when they mergered they put together an enormous amount of cash.One of the main reasons these two mergered was a fear that some predatory US bigpharam would move in on them and take them over. This way no one can tuch Novartis. There is no money in anyone's hands to buy them. This fact also dictate their approach to marketing of their product. Or should I say "buying" the selling of their products. Translation: brivery, payoffs, fake clims and fake honoraria paid to their hired mouthpieces and so on are the way they do/buy business. They are very good at it. So far in no juristiction Novartis got caught and exposed for what they are doing. The misconduct they do is so subtle and so disguised that very few can see that it is misconduct (catch word for everything illegal). I should know. I have done so much bribing, paying off etc. that if I had only 2% of that money now for myself, I'd be laughing all the way to proverbial bank. As for the NVS wise guys, they never admit anything, just keep their noses to the grind stone and keep collecting that cash for the big mama. Now you know the sicret of this unusually rich and powerful company. They think no one can touch them, for they are untouchables in their own mind,. Some of us don't think so and are doing some work that will change all this, quite soon in non-US juristiction, first.
I wonder how many Novartis reps have (or have not) yet reported these frauds to the feds and filed false claims act cases. It's hard to ever know with the backlog of so many drug fraud cases and court ordered seals that extend in perpetuity.
Dr. Rost posted the following from cafe pharma and brandweek earlier this year . . .
http://www.brandweeknrx.com/2008/01/novartis-reps-c.html
January 07, 2008
Novartis reps claim speakers programs gone wild: Doctors bribed $280,000 in one territory.
If the people who pay the money think it is a bribe, is it a bribe?
Not necessarily. But the effect may be the same. Here are two opinions from Novartis sales reps.
WARNING: The language does not adhere to Brandweek standards, however, we have chosen not to censor the original wording. (If you can't stand it, don't read it):
REP 1:
I paid out about $40,000 in honorariums this year. There are 8, well 7 people in my pod, each doing about the same amount of programs (payoffs). That's about $280,000 just in "speaker" honorariums (payoffs) in my territory. Not to mention, probably another 100,000 just in meal costs. Fucking ridiculous. This company is raping reps left and right with bonuses and goals, and still pushing for more programs (payoffs). What a waste of money. I heard this new company managing the programs gets 15% of the cost we pay for each program. Are you kidding me? This company is doing everything wrong. I would feel better about this company if we just left pharma code or whatever organization we joined, and just let us pay off the docs. At least this way it is what it is a payoff, not a program with 3 of the docs gp friends. Everyone in the medical community knows these programs are just a way to line the docs pockets...that's part of the reason why so many docs come out. They know that the speaker is getting paid, and don't trust their judgement or opinion on the drugs. Out of the $40,000 I paid out in honorariums for programs, I definitely did not get any return on investment. How can the company justify doing this? It is a waste of time and money. No one and I mean no one in the field cares about these programs. Docs don't care about these programs. 1 a month / pod would be just fine. We might actually be able to get a lot out to one program /month if all 7 of us weren't begging docs everyday to come to this program mon, that program tues, her program wed, his program thurs. every week of the month. How's this for my sales calls this year. Doc here's an invite to my program tues, her program tomorrow night, this one is for m, that for next wed, etc, oh yeah sign here. No medical discussion, no selling, no begging even for a script. This company sucks, has it priorities up someone's ass, does not have a grip on reality, and instead of figuring out ways to save money in areas that that really need to be addressed ("payoffs" aka speaker programs), they steal from reps bonuses, and triple goals to steal from reps future bonues). Fuck this company, I hope every Novartis drug goes generic 10 years before it is supposed to. I hope no Novartis drug makes it to market for safety reasons. I hope the fda pulls more Novartis approved drugs off the market for safety concerns, I hope employees continue to start class action law suits. I hope the companies stock price gets even shittier than it is. Fuck you Novartis, Have a shitty new year. You ended my year shitty, by fudging my bonus, tripling my goals, so I can't obtain a t3 bonus next year, and I'll be sure to be reminded of that everytime I leave my house to go to work next year. My plan is to do as little of nothing for as long as possible. Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck you Fuck You
REP2:
Hey I feel your pain but remember someone is benefiting from these programs, the docs that are paid off. They prescribe the drugs , novartis makes its profit. Docs don't lose out if our goals are quadrupled. You are training these Docs to get a check which is another benefit to Novartis , you get bumped & the next rep continues the payoff tradition.
These strategies are all aimed at marginalizing the rep & his/her relationships & getting the prescribers used to a system. In this case you're just a money delivery system.
As for these 3rd party vendors , don't think for a minute some high level muckity muck at corporate isn't getting their palm MAJOR greased by these, for lack of a better term, useless added expenses aka Genesis &/or Alliance HC.
Save your documentation , Novartis may be walking a legal tightrope with these payoffs/programs but they would NEVER win in the court of public opinion & heads would seriously roll if the magnitude & scope of this flagrant bribery scheme ever gets publicized.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.
PS- Notice how you no longer get Honararium Forms ?
REP 3:
And then there is the program in the St. Louis area last year in which a doctor attendee brought his priest friend who brought 8-10 high-school aged kids that were part of the church youth group. Managers were present for the speaker program. The kids were disruptive and eating and drinking on Novartis' dime, and the whole thing was swept under the rug. Absolutely nothing was done by the manager attending the program, and she knew they were teenagers and not medical. Of course nothing was done to the manager either for letting it go on. The investigative journalists should dig into this one.
Source: CP [Café Pharma] Novartis
We know a guy who provided incredible inside info and evidence of wrongdoings at this CO, but was not in US juristiction. However the guy knew that there was a pattern of behavior of Cos' management for all the Western world's countries. They use tried and true methods that are at least unethical and at worse criminal and everything in between. This is how it works, say East Hanover site uses these fake honoraria to pay off their doctors/speakers so they would use more of their Diovan for insatnce. It works like a charm. Big time KOL (key opinion leaders) go for it to make some serious monies and increase their Rxing of Diovan plus influence others (GPs) to use it more. The sales of Diovan go up siginficanty and they know the bribery of KOL works. Marketing guys for Diovan in Canada find out about this and how successful it was. They get details from EH and develop something exactly the same or very similar. It works here too. Next thing you know the German, French, Austrian, Italian, Swiss and all other affiliates are doing the same thing and the sales of Diovan go up so much that it becomes #1 ARB in the world. In fact this is what happened in case of Diovan. The company used number of business practices that would not pass any leagal or ethical test anywhere except in some God forsaken criminal states like Albania and now Bush's approved, Kosovo.
Back to the info. It was given to a group of experienced and well finanaced experts who look for proof of illegal stuff done by BigPharma in USA. After a very intensive search and investigation they could not crack this nut. They uncovered lot od wrong stuff but the key needed to unlock it all was missing. They maybe still at it but their chances are small for this Co is like any well organized mafia, they stick to their omerta and know how to cover things up. Others are woking on different levels and juristictions for we know they are "doing" it and will remain a big prize in this game. We will not give up and anyone else at it, please don't. They are not untouchable.
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