ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
In her book, Confessions of an RX Drug Pusher, former pharmaceutical sales representative Gwen Olsen is exposing Big Pharma. Olsen says that there is no such thing as a safe drug, and that she and other sales representatives were trained to misinform people, statements that are seemingly supported by whistleblower and product liability cases involving prescription drugs.
Clinical trials are often inadequate and as a result, Olsen says that we are unaware of half of the potential side effects of new drugs. For example, the diabetes drug Invokana only underwent a six-month clinical trial, but patients on the drug for a year or more experienced unanticipated side effects. Similarly, clinical trials for the blood pressure medication Benicar only ran for twelve weeks, and ten years later was linked to a life-threatening gastrointestinal disorder in users.
Gwen Olsen particularly focuses on psychoactive drugs, which she alleges are being overprescribed. In fact, prescriptions for psychoactive drugs have risen 500% over the past decade. Olsen’s interest in the over prescription of psychoactive drugs is personal, as her niece committed suicide after being prscribed Vicodin for an accident, followed by the stimulant ephedra when the Vicodin interfered with her concentration. The interaction between the two drugs led to emergency treatment. Her niece was then diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed a number of psychotropic drugs, without even having her blood tested.
In fact, psychiatrists are not required to conduct blood tests or physical examinations to diagnose a mental illness and prescribe psychoactive drugs. “It’s an extremely lucrative alliance,” says Ms. Olson of the relationship between Big Pharma and psychiatric associations.
Evans Law Firm, Inc. handles all types of whistleblower and False Claims Act (qui tam) claims, including healthcare fraud and medical whistleblower lawsuits, but did not handle any of the cases named in this article. If you have a potential whistleblower claim, please contact Evans Law Firm, Inc. at 415-441-8669 or via email at info@evanslaw.com.
