Real Interesting Article
The mutual fund story, to me, is a yawn. (Not so, I am sure, to the idiot bank executives who are calculating how many attorney hours ten basis points buys.) The article about Glaxo making up a condition - restless leg syndrome - to sell an unnecessary drug to skeptical doctors is the real crime. Drug companies have carte blanch and doctors fall for their sales pitches. But making up restless leg syndrome to sell drugs is over the top. If your legs hurt after a hard day, drink a beer and watch TV or read a book. Glaxo has sold a staggering $550 million of this drug, Requip, this past year. It made up restless leg syndrome when Requip did not work for Parkinson's Disease. The FDA is worthless. Doctors need to start looking out for their patients (because they know restless leg syndrome is nonsense) and stop looking for freebies from drug companies and falling for sales pitches from pretty young saleswomen.
2 comments:
I have Restless Legs Syndrome and it IS real. Until you've walked the floor all night, gone crazy with incessant leg movement you have no control over, or had the feeling that something is crawling up your leg on a constant basis, you aren't qualified to say whether RLS is real or not.
RLS is real. My husband has had it for years, as did his mother before him. It's a hell of a lot more complicated that "ouch, my legs hurt." Instead it is more like being kept awake night after night after night with pain and other unpleasant feelings in your legs that absolutely NOTHING helps. For years he went to doctor after doctor, who told him they have no idea what may be causing the problem and gave him tranquilizers or sleeping pills that did nothing to help. Then, in March of 2006, we read a small article about Requip. Rushed to the doctor with it. Got a presscription for Mirapex (similar drug), and RLS was gone that night and has not returned as long as he takes his pills. If he forgets, the symptoms come right back. It's not made up. Do some research and apologize!
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