Alleged AZ Document: Arimidex Brand Manager Sent Reps 'Background' on Letrozole

The Group of 7 anonymous whistleblowers at AstraZeneca have sent me what they allege is a memo from AZ's Matt Lehman, the brand director for Arimidex (see download below). The memo is all about letrozole and its failings--a rival drug to Arimidex that reps were not supposed to be comparing Arimidex to, according to AZ's code of conduct.

The memo begins: "This reprint is being provided to you for YOUR BACKGROUND INFORMATION ONLY and is not for proactive distribution or discussion outside of AstraZeneca."

Then its says: "Our friends at Novartis have just poured gasoline on that fire that we all stoked…..IMAGINE THAT!"

Then it goes into a detailed analysis of a clinical review of letrozole (the generic name of Novartis's Femara) and its various adverse event failings.

First, let me point out that I do not know if this memo is genuine. It's from an anonymous source. It could be made up. As with everything about the Bucket of Money scandal, readers should treat it with extreme caution.

Having said that: The memo is clearly labelled as not for use in promotion. But at the same time, its general tone is one that encourages reps to think of Arimidex as superior to Femara. And given the background here—the newsletter from Mike Zubillaga talking about selling against letrozole earlier in 2006—it doesn't look good.

The incident is being investigated by both the OIG and AZ. May I suggest to both investigative teams that one of their first jobs will be to determine whether this memo is genuine, and if so, what reps would have understood from it when they received it.

Download 51_mo_publication_memo_to_field_sales_jan_9.doc

Comments

[[Redacted]]

Jim --

I've been around the industry for the past 17 years or so, and having read this memo and the PowerPoint deck distributed earlier this week think I might be able to provide some perspective that hasn't quite made it into anybody's coverage so far. If you'd like to speak on background, drop me an e-mail for my phone number.

Regards,

[redacted]

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First, let me point out that I do not know if this memo is genuine.

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