Bristol-Myers' "Celebrity Patient" Goes off Script

The Wall Street Journal has published a revealing story about one of the seamier sides of the drug industry's marketing campaigns: paying patients to offer testimonials about their drugs. As health industry observer Merrill Goozner explains, the story came to light because a "celebrity patient" had a "falling out with his corporate sponsor, Bristol-Myers Squibb. Andy Behrman is bipolar, and he earned $10,000 a day or $400,000 in total singing the praises of Abilify (aripiprizole, an atypical antipsychotic drug) to Bristol-Myers' drug salesmen and physician-consultants. Behrman's presentations worked off talking points provided by a public relations firm." He was supposed to tell people that the drug had no side effects and not to tell them that he was being paid by the company. "Behrman now claims he suffered serious side effects while on the drug," Goozner notes. He makes these and other charges in a new tell-all book. In response, the company says that he attempted to shake them down for a $7.5 million contract before turning against his former handlers.

Comments

How could a drug company like Bristol Myers Squibb knowingly do this? What else are they hiding about Abilirfy? I'm glad that Behrman was courageous enough to blow the whistle on these guys and I hope that more people come out and do the same.

I'm not the least bit surprised by this latest revelation!

Like the rest of the Drug Industry ( Big Pharma) Bristol-Myers Squibb isn't adverse to a panoply of dirty tricks in its SOP arsenal, re: smoke & mirrors, blackmail, threats, extortion, bribery, et al, in order to increase the net worth of company stocks while fattening their wallets/purses!