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2. Congressmen are outnumbered two to one by lobbyists for the pharmaceutical industry that spends roughly a $100 million a year in campaign contributions and lobbying expenses.
CBS News, 4/1/07

3. Schering-Plough to admit guilt, pay $435M fine in fraud probe

Drugmaker's latest scandal centers on cancer medicine

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

BY GEORGE E. JORDAN

Star-Ledger Staff

Schering-Plough yesterday said it would plead guilty to criminal conspiracy and pay a $435 million fine to settle a federal investigation into fraud, kickbacks and illegal sales and marketing tactics.

The payout brings to $1 billion the criminal and civil penalties paid by the Kenilworth-based drugmaker in recent years to settle allegations of illegal business practices under former Chief Executive Richard Kogan. Star-Ledger

4. Legal aid victory for paralysed MMR boy
By JULIE WHELDON, Daily Mail

21:16pm 23rd July 2006

The family of a boy left paralysed after the MMR jab have won legal aid to
sue the drug company behind the vaccine.

Shane Lambert developed transverse myelitis, an incurable disease of the
spine, following the triple mumps, measles and rubella jab he had when he
was 13 months.

His mother Sandra is convinced the jab is to blame for his condition and has
been granted legal aid to sue the vaccine manufacturer Merck.

At the same time, another family has been given legal aid to sue over
another jab made by GlaxoSmith-Kline.

5. Lawyer Claims Merck Hid Vioxx Risk

Merck Shares Fall After Vioxx Decision

07/03/2006
Reuters

An attorney for a man who blames Vioxx for his 2003 heart attack,
said the company was driven by marketing rather than science and was
determined to make Vioxx into a blockbuster drug with sales of at least
$1 billion a year.

It marks the second trial in Merck's home state of New Jersey, where about
half of the nearly 10,000 Vioxx-related lawsuits have been filed.

The plaintiffs in the current trial claim Merck knew of the drug's dangers
years before its withdrawal.

The documents charge that "Merck continued to deny the ill-health effects
of Vioxx while at the same time reaping profits obtained through its
non-disclosure and concealment."

6. Sunday Mercury (UK)

02-29-2004

FOUR leading doctors who deemed the controversial MMR vaccine
safe have links to the drug giants who make or supply the jab.

Professor James Chipman from Birmingham University, a member of the
Committee on Safety of Medicines, received research funding from
GlaxoSmithKline, suppliers of the MMR vaccine Priorix.

Consultant cardiologist Dr Colin Forfar from John Radcliffe Hospital in
Oxford, a shareholder in GlaxoSmithKline, is also a member of the
influential committee.

Professor Terence Stephenson, from the Queen's Medical Centre in
Nottingham, sits on the same committee but his travel expenses are paid
by the same drugs giant.

Professor Michael Langman from Birmingham University is the Chairman of
the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
His team received research support from Merck Sharp and Dohme, which
manufactures MMR vaccine.

Now Jonathan Harris, West Midlands campaigner for vaccination awareness
group JABS (Justice Awareness and Basic Support) is calling for the GMC
to investigate the work of the medics.
Only two of Mr Harris's six children had the MMR vaccine and both of
them are autistic.

'These experts are advising the Government about the safety of the MMR
vaccine at the same time as receiving payments or holding shares in the
companies selling the jab.

C2004 Independent Newspapers (UK) Limited.

8. A survey of medical experts who write guidelines for treating conditions like heart disease, depression and diabetes has found that nearly 9 out of 10 have financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, and the ties are almost never disclosed.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E0DA1E3DF935A35751C0A9649C8B63

9..."drug companies, in turn, have pressed for greater control over the research process, making it easier for them to obscure or delete negative results from published academic papers. Earlier this month, the New England Journal of Medicine accused Merck of failing to report three patient deaths in the trial that led to FDA approval of the painkiller Vioxx,..."
http://www.slate.com/id/2133061/

10. WASHINGTON, D.C. – American pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company agreed to plead guilty and to pay $36 million in connection with its illegal promotion of its pharmaceutical drug Evista...
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2005/December/05_civ_685.html

11. FDA reports 51 deaths of children and adults taking ADHD drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall. The FDA plans to investigate a risk of sudden death, high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes in patients taking ADHD medication.
https://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/adhd_medication?ref=newsletter_whn