Big Pharma's Big Phear
Amid congressional hearings and increased FDA scrutiny, Big Pharma has another worry these days: YouTube. The online-video site has gained popularity among drug-industry critics as a means to sway public opinion on the pharmaceutical industry. One of the more incriminating videos called "Zyprexa Drug Rep" features a former sales representative of Eli Lilly discussing how he was instructed to spin safety data to increase sales of the antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa. He says, "We were told . . . to downplay those side effects, to focus on the efficacies of the drug. . . . An old stats professor once told me that statistics are like prisoners: torture them long enough, and they'll tell you whatever you want to hear." Eli Lilly has declined to comment.
