At AZ, a Potential Smoking Gun Emerges in the Bucket of Money Scandal

Peter Rost this morning posted what appears to be an inexplicable set of PowerPoint slides from the AZ Group of 7 whistleblowers. The entire slideshow (see download below) is a comparison of AZ's Arimidex anti-cancer drug vs. Novartis' Femara drug. I hope I don't have to remind you at this stage that it is against AZ's internal policy (which in turn is controlled by its corporate integrity agreement with the government over the Zoldex scandal), to market Arimidex in comparison to Femara. Especially as the two drugs have never, according to Rost and his sources, gone head-to-head in proper study.

The icing on the cake? AZ reps' performance review forms included a section where supervisors are asked to rate reps on: "Product Initiatives- Arimidex (1) Grow at expense of Femara (2)." See second download below.

In the journalism world, we call these "Smoking Guns."

Ed from Pharmalot points out that the mainstream media has had its lunch eaten by Rost et al on this story. Given that it involves breast cancer, breaking the law, and greed ... it's a matter of time before the big boys wade in.

One last thought: Take a look at AZ's full press statement from Friday (see third download). It's a lengthy explanation of AZ's official position, the fact that it is responding by investigating the allegations, and an explanation of how it frowns upon this type of wrongdoing. This is what good crisis PR looks like. They're not ducking it, spinning it or pretending it doesn't exist. Yes, it is going to suck at AZ for a while, but if the company can be seen to be doing the right thing and not trying to persuade us all that this is somehow 'not a story,' then it will be over faster and with less lasting damage.

The proof now will be in the pudding: Will AZ tell the public the results of their probe? Or will we have to get that from the OIG and the Group of 7 six months from now? I would recommend AZ be first out of the gate on that one.

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Download ATACvsBIG1-98-1.ppt

Download 2007bscpsstemplate1.doc

Download oncology_newsletter_az_highest_ethics_statement_4.13.07 final v2.doc

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