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New disease in children: Cooties

This is a public service announcement.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

The U.S. government's secret weapon to stop reimportation of drugs from Canada!

Cheap Canadian drugs will not be cheap when one U.S. dollar becomes worth less than one Canadian dollar . . . and we're getting close. This makes drug makers very happy, since Canadian drugs will no longer be cheaper than U.S. drugs. The dropping U.S. dollar also helps U.S. drug makers increase their revenues, by boosting income from international sales.

Of course, ANYTHING we import, which is most of the stuff YOU and I buy in stores, will get more expensive. But most of us don't have lobbyists in D.C., like Big Pharma.

Hmmm.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

Arnold & Porter's Wikipedia changes

So I decided to check out white-shoe D.C. law firm Arnold & Porter. They were AstraZeneca's law firm in ZubeGate, and work for Wyeth and many other pharma companies.

But they weren't at all as much fun as Covington & Burling and all their hilarious changes.

To start off, Arnold & Porter were smart enough to do their entries AFTER someone registered, so IP addresses from A&P don't show up. Check here.

Second, the worst I could find as far as changes go, was this.

Arnold & Porter clearly like to mention that "Prominent cases the firm has been involved with include its work as counsel to WorldCom executive Scott Sullivan, CBS in its litigation against Howard Stern, Phillip Morris in the mass tort litigation of the 1990s."

This they didn't like as much; "Prominent cases the firm has been involved with included: counsel to tobacco in the mass tort litigation of the 1990s . . ."

And, of course, "tobacco" is a bad word. But since the editors IP-addresses aren't available we don't even know if Arnold & Porter did these changes. Although that's pretty likely . . .

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

My speech in Swedish Parliament.

You can read more about my private life and my upcoming speech in the Swedish Parliament on my personal blog, Question Authority.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

$300 bottle turns soiled toilet water into crystal clear drinking water.

The LifeSaver bottle must be the Product of the Year. A British man has invented this $300 plastic bottle with a super filter, which cleans water contaminated by bacteria, parasites, and viruses in seconds.

The bottle could be a life-saver for refugees in disaster regions where access to clean drinking water doesn't exist, and it could also become standard equipment for the military. In July the bottle was voted "Best Technological Development" at the Soldier Technology conference.

The filter in the bottle can distill an amazing 1,000 gallons or 1,500 gallons of water without changing the filter.

Conventional filters can only stop bacteria measuring more than 200 nanometres, but not viruses, which are less than 25 nanometres long.

In fact, the Life Saver bottle can clean up any water - including toilet water with faecal matter - because the filter keeps out anything longer than 15 nanometres, which means that viruses can be filtered out without the use of chemicals.

In addition to the mechanical filter, LifeSaver bottles also contain an activated carbon filter. This reduces a broad spectrum of chemical residues including pesticides, endocrine disrupting compounds, medical residues and heavy metals such as lead and copper. It also eliminates bad tastes and odors from contaminates such as chlorine and sulphur.

The bottle goes on sale September 17, and you can order one here.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

Ropes & Gray, yet another Pfizer law firm caught changing Wikipedia.

Ropes & Gray is a big law firm which works with a number of drug companies. One of them is Pfizer where they assisted the company in catching an anonymous whistleblower in the HIV sales force.

Using the Wiki Scanner, here's some of the changes we found Ropes & Gray had done to the Wikipedia entry for the firm.

Last year Ropes & Gray prided itself on being a swell company to work for:

Ropes & Gray's summer program is also widely recognized for its combination of fun, good work experience, and phenomenal dining. Events include baseball games, theater, and epic parties in Boston to begin and end a summer of ecstacy. Longtime summer program head Doug Meal (famous for his "Meals with Meal") is the architect, spearhead, and soul of the summer experience, and he reports to no one (except for maybe the Managing Partner, but that is more a relationship of equals.) The only force capable of containing Meal is longtime sidekick Alison "A-Bomb" Bomberg. Ropes & Gray has long been the creme de la creme of Boston law firms, and is strategically expanding operations across the country.

But apparently someone felt left out from the "phenomenal dining" and "summer of ecstacy," hence added this:

However, after this summer the dynamic duo will be replaced by corporate raider Susan Galli as she takes the helm of the summer program. She may not know what she is getting into.

And that entry was followed by this addition:

There's also one really cool summer associate in New York, Seth Piken. His office-mate though, is a jerk.

Is Seth Piken a real lawyer, you may ask?

He sure is . . . this is what he says about his summer job on Ropes & Gray's web site:  "The most valuable aspect of my summer program experience was having the opportunity to work with associates and partners on a daily basis. Every lawyer that I worked with took the time to carefully explain assignments and concepts that were new to me. Only through this type of hands-on experience could I learn what it is really like to work in different areas of the law." Seth Piken, a member of our 2006 Summer Program, has accepted the firm’s offer to join Ropes & Gray LLP following her graduation from Fordham.

No mention about his office-mate, the jerk . . .

In the end, as you might imagine, the Ropes & Gray Wikipedia entry was completely re-edited and all references to "epic parties," "phenomenal dining" and "summer of ecstacy," and even "cool summer associates" like Seth Piken and his office-mate, "the jerk" are gone.

Perhaps Wikipedia readers are the biggest losers, no longer getting these insights.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

Covington & Burling, a Pfizer law firm, caught cleaning up its reputation on Wikipedia.

We recently wrote that several drug companies have been caught deleting important information from Wikipedia, in order to downplay the risk of their drugs.

Now the law firms working for the drug companies are getting caught doing the same thing and we got this story from the outstanding blog ClinPsych.

Covington & Burling, one of the largest white-shoe law firms in the country, representing AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Schering-Plough and Pfizer, just got caught very red handed deleting Wikipedia entries about the firm like crazy. Seems like them lawyers aren't that smart after all . . .

[Update, here is another Pfizer law firm we found doing hilarious edits: Ropes & Gray, yet another Pfizer law firm caught changing Wikipedia. Click on link to learn about their  "epic parties," "phenomenal dining," "summer of ecstacy," and even "cool summer associates" like Seth Piken and his office-mate, "the jerk."]

If you want to see for yourself what the glorious lawyers at Covington & Burling have been up to, go here. If you just want the facts, keep on reading:

One entry deleted was the connection between Covington & Burling and secret societes:

There have been many connections drawn between Covington & Burling and the Skull & Bones or Illuminati. One notable connection is William P. Bundy who started out his career in 1947 working for Covington & Burling. In 1951 Bundy quit Covington & Burling to begin openly working for the CIA as an analyst, and then as assistant to the deputy director of the CIA.

                                                          

Another deletion dealt with Covington & Burlings involvment with mad cows and toxic smoke:

In April 2004, the Washington DC newspaper The Hill reported: "Creekstone Farms Quality Beef, which has been battling the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get permission to test its cattle for mad cow disease, has hired Covington & Burling to help it make its case."[2]

At the time, Creekstone was one of two U.S. beef producers who were seeking to resume exports to Japan, South Korea and other countries by testing every head of cattle they processed for mad cow disease.

According to a September 2003 press release from the firm, Covington & Burling successfully argued on behalf of the Southern Peru Copper Corporation to drop a lawsuit brought against it under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) by Peruvian citizens charging the copper company with polluting communities and causing health problems. ATCA has been used to address serious human rights violations in places like Burma and East Timor. In their release, Covington & Burling decried the "aggressive, expansionist plaintiffs' litigation" under ATCA.[3]

Covington & Burling also served as corporate affairs consultants to the Philip Morris group of companies, according to a 1993 internal budget review document which indicated the firm was paid $280,000 to "serve as general counsel to the Consumer Products Company Tort Coalition, agree the legal objectives with member company litigators, draft legislation and amendments, prepare lobby papers and testimony for legislative committees and administer the coalition's budget". [4]

During the $280 billion U.S. federal lawsuit against big tobacco, Covington & Burling partner John Rupp, a former lawyer with the industry-funded Tobacco Institute, testified that "the industry sought out scientists and paid them to make an 'objective appraisal' of whether secondhand smoke was harmful to non-smokers, a move they hoped would dispel the 'extreme views' of some anti-smoking activists." He "said the scientists, who came from prestigious institutions such as Georgetown University and the University of Massachusetts, did not consider themselves to be working 'on behalf' of cigarette makers even though they were being paid by the industry." Rupp said, "We were paying them to share their views in forums where they would be usefully presented," according to Reuters. [5]

Something else the Covington people didn't like was for people to learn their association with Halliburton and the following was deleted:

In 2003 Halliburton hired the firm to lobby Washington on behalf of its KBR Government Operations division, the same division being pummeled by the media, the Pentagon and Congress for its handling of Iraq contracts. Covington & Burling was paid $520,000 to handle "inquiries concerning company's construction and service contracts in Iraq," the firm said in a filing.

According to the filing, Covington & Burling listed the following people as lobbyists for Halliburton/KBR: Roderick A. DeArment, who was chief of staff to now-retired Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS); Martin B. Gold, former counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN); Stuart E. Eizenstat, U.S. ambassador to the European Union during the Clinton administration; Alan A. Pemberton, coordinator of the firm's government contracts practice; David M. Marchick, who served in various posts in the Clinton administration; Jack L. Schenendorf; Peter Flanagan; Jennifer Plitsch; Benjamin J. Razi; and Allegra Lane.

Halliburton's lobbying expenses are disclosed in documents submitted under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, which requires congressional and executive branch lobbyists to disclose their lobbying activities twice per year. Each year the information is disclosed at the Senate Office of Public Records.

In 2003 Halliburton hired the firm to lobby Washington on behalf of its KBR Government Operations division, the same division being pummeled by the media, the Pentagon and Congress for its handling of Iraq contracts. Covington & Burling was paid $520,000 to handle "inquiries concerning company's construction and service contracts in Iraq," the firm said in a filing.

And Covington didn’t like this description of the firm:

Covington & Burling is a major legal and lobbying firm focused on "industry and regulatory" and "corporate, tax and benefits" issues, and litigation.[1] They have U.S. offices in Washington DC, New York City and San Francisco, and European offices in London and Brussels.

Instead, they wrote this:

Covington & Burling LLP is a leading international law firm with more than 600 lawyers practicing in Brussels, London, New York, San Francisco, and Washington. Founded in 1919, the firm advises leading multinationals on many of their most significant transactional, litigation, regulatory, and public policy matters. The firm has long emphasized the strength of its Corporate and Litigation Practices derived from the firm's industry expertise acquired through its broad regulatory expertise. Representative clients include The National Football League, Microsoft, PBS, and The Washington Post. Covington's pro bono program has been recognized as preeminent in the legal community. As part of its pro bono program, the firm has rotation programs, which allow attorneys and staff to work for six months at three local legal services organizations - Neighborhood Legal Services Program (NLSP), the Children's Law Center (CLC), or Bread for the City (BFTC).

To do your own detective work on Wikipedia use the WikiScanner.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

What's your score?

What's your score?

Test how much you know about the side effects of these common drugs . . . click here.

I got 8 out of 10 . . . oh well. I didn't know that that particular drug caused "floppy babies."

J&J expands Red Cross lawsuit.

BrandweekNRX recently reported the story Red Cross sued over its - Red Cross!

We have now received an exclusive update that Johnson & Johnson is planning on expanding the lawsuit and making sure that other organizations and countries that use the red cross will also pay a royalty to J&J, alternatively drop the red cross from their flags.

According to a source familiar with J&J's legal strategy, the company has met our commander in chief, who expressed support for the idea of an embargo of all states using the red cross without paying royalties to J&J.

Military action, however, is out of the question. "After all, these states have no oil," a White House spokesperson allegedly commented.

The states targeted by J&J, according to a confidential White House memo, are:

Iceland

Georgia

Farao Islands

U.K.

Flag of England (We know this isn't a state. But U.K. will get a double-whammy in this conflict and the Queen has been notified.)

Åland (Right, this also isn't a state. It is an island which belongs to Sweden or maybe it was Finland. So one of those countries is going down.)

Hat tip PharmAid.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

Analyst says: Pfizer CEO generally doesn't make himself available because he is still familiarizing himself with the health-care industry.

When Jeffrey Kindler took over Pfizer Inc. last summer, he promised to be more open, according to the WSJ. And he had good reasons to make those promises.

The New York Times wrote the following the day after his appointment:

Until this year, Pfizer has rarely reached out to investors or analysts, an analyst at Miller Tabak, Les Funtleyder, said. “I would hope that whoever’s running the place would be more willing to get out in the field and talk to investors,” he said. “If there is a lesson, at least one, be more accessible to Wall Street.”

This should be compared with what Bloomberg News reported today:

Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler, in a rare public appearance (my italics), said sales will decline for the drugmaker's top-selling product, the Lipitor cholesterol pill, because of cheaper competition.

Kindler, a former McDonald's Corp. executive, generally doesn't make himself available to investors, analysts and journalists. That's probably because he's still familiarizing himself with the health-care industry, said analyst Joseph Tooley of AG Edwards & Sons.

And finally Bloomberg had this wonderful quote:

"Pfizer's really a slow-moving boat,'' said analyst Les Funtleyder of Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. "Kindler's got a tough deal. There's not a lot he can necessarily do.''

So what, exactly, is Kindler getting paid to do? Familiarize himself with the health-care industry?

We're just wondering.

Hat tip: Pharmagossip.

- Peter Rost, M.D. is a former VP of Pfizer and the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.