Guest guest Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Who is behind Suicide Screening of America's kids? Fri, 9 Feb 2007 13:31:00 -0500 Who is behind Suicide Screening of America's kids? The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - that's who! Wherever TeenScreen is pushed, NAMI is there pushing it. Wherever TeenScreen is protested, NAMI is there to defend it. Who is behind NAMI? Pharmaceutical companies promoting unscientific psych disorders - that's who! Photos, documents and videos are being compiled here: www.psychsearch.net/nami.html Bookmark that page for future reference or better yet, download all the material and blow it out on the net. And even better than that - get this information to your legislators and school board officials. The latest document added? A federal lawsuit. Excerpts below. Case 1:06-cv-00021-JBW-RLM UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK LOCAL 28 SHEET METAL WORKERS on behalf of themselves And other similarly situated Plaintiffs v. CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT AND DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL ELI LILLY AND COMPANY Defendant I. INTRODUCTION This is a proposed national class action on behalf of consumers and third party payors (self-insured employers, Taft-Hartley funds, non-profit and for-profit health insurers, all of whom bear the ultimate risk for prescription drug expense) against Eli Lilly & Company ("Lilly" or "Defendant") seeking damages and other monetary relief by reason of Lilly's wrongful and illegal marketing, sales and promotional activities for the atypical antipsychotic Zyprexa. EXCERPT EXTRACTED FROM PAGES 73 - 75 7. National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) Activities 192. Lilly also utilized a non-profit organization as a front to further its own purposes of increasing market share for atypical antipsychotics and other medications. Lilly's funding and partnering with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) in the late 1990s and early 2000s was designed to accomplish through a non-profit organization what it could not on its own: giving the appearance of independent analysis and a grassroots movement encouraging the use of atypical antipsychotics by state and private insurers. The scheme worked and Lilly certainly benefited from its significant donations to NAMI. Zyprexa was the leading antipsychotic in the world in 2000, capturing nearly 40% of the global antipsychotic market. A year later, Zyperexa was the sixth highest selling pharmaceutical product in the world, with $3.2 billion in sales. 193. NAMI is a national association of mental health organizations in every state and bills itself as "redacted from court record". In reality, this not-for profit organization readily accepts donations offered by pharmaceutical manufacturers while "redacted from court record". 194. Lilly has been the largest contributor among pharmaceutical manufacturers to NAMI, giving the organization approximately $2.87 million between 1996 and 1999. 195. Lilly "donations" to NAMI were not limited to money. In 1999, Mother Jones Magazine reported that Lilly executive Jerry Radke was "on loan" to NAMI as an executive. Also in 1999, Bob Postlethwait, a Lilly executive who headed the group that produced and marketed Zyprexa (and Prozac assisted NAMI Indiana in securing government funding for an executive director. 196. Lilly also provided funding for a variety of brochures and programs produced by NAMI highlighting the use of atypical antipsychotics. One such Lilly-funded brochure - "Understanding Schizophrenia" - produced by NAMI for patients and families of schizophrenics minimized the side effects of atypical antipsychotics such as Zyprexa. Another - the 2001 "Access to Effective Medications" brochure produced by NAMI National for legislators and paid for by Lilly - lays out a blueprint for nationwide NAMI lobbying of state governments to reduce or remove any limitations to payments for atypical antipsychotics, again down-playing the side effects of such drugs. 197. Using money from Lilly and other pharmaceutical companies, NAMI - both the various state-level association and the national organization - has effectively lobbied state and federal governments to increase spending on atypical antipsychotic drugs and to reduce restrictions on access to those pharmaceuticals, thereby protecting pharmaceutical industry profits through the guise of independent, grassroots advocacy. For example, between 1998 and 2000, Lilly gave NAMI Washington State $91,000. During that time, NAMI Washington State, in an effort led by NAMI lobbyist Brad Boswell, lobbied the state legislature for $1 million specifically for atypical antipsychotic drugs. Brad Boswell was Lilly's Washington state lobbyist just prior to his assignment with NAMI Washington State. NAMI also join a suit initiated by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) against the state of Michigan in order to increase physician access to higher cost pharmaceuticals - including atypical antipsychotics - under the state's Medicaid program. 198. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General issued a report in 2002 warning that cozy financial relationships between non-profit advocacy groups and pharmaceutical companies - such as the one between NAMI and Lilly - which result in the generation of revenue for the pharmaceutical companies could be considered illegal under the federal anti-kickback statute. Thomas M. Sobol David S. Nalven Lauren G. Barnes Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro One Main Street, 4th Floor Cambridge, MA 02142 Telephone: (617) 482-3700 Jason Thompson Ann Mandt Charfoos & Christensen, P.C. 5510 Woodward Avenue Detroit, Mi 48202 Telephone (313) 875-8080 Ronald Goldser Timothy Becker Zimmerman Reed 651 Nicollet Mall, Suite 501 Minneapolis, MN 55402 Telephone (612) 341-0400 Attorneys for Plaintiff _____ Anybody have contacts to Oprah, Larry King , the New York Times or your local newspapers? Send them this: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?TScreen ++ Doc Shillington727-447-5282Doc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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