A Sick Way to Promote Drugs

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"I've never been on the opposite side of the NAACP," said Dr. Alicia Fernandez, an associate professor of clinical medicine. "I've been a big admirer of the SEIU" labor union. "But now these drug companies are going to the good guys for cover." In particular, the SEIU affiliate International Association of EMTs and Paramedics (IAEP) recently sent two letters to its members promoting Pfizer's cholesterol drug Lipitor. "IAEP leadership stands behind LIPITOR as the lipid-lowering agent of choice," read one letter, which was signed by IAEP director Matthew Levy and printed on IAEP letterhead, but with a Pfizer copyright at the end. IAEP stated it "does not endorse specific drugs," but refused to say whether the union has any financial relationship with Pfizer. In a similar case, the NAACP's New England branch accused Medicare of racism for refusing to cover the heart medication BiDil. (NitroMed, BiDil's manufacturer, has donated $1.5 million to the NAACP.) BiDil is a combination of two generic drugs that won "patent protection for treating African-American patients with heart failure." Fernandez believes NitroMed's "real goal" is "selling an expensive 'new' pill made from two cheap old ones." Meanwhile, she warned, "the argument over coverage of BiDil deflects attention from the real issues involved in health disparities."

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SEIU statement

A [http://www.seiu.org/media/pressreleases.cfm?pr_id=1613 brief statement] from SEIU on the Lipitor letter concludes:

SEIU does not endorse products. The letter was generated by a Local Union staff member unfamiliar with SEIU's policy against any product endorsement. Upon learning of the letter, the Local disavowed a relationship with the product in keeping with the union's policy.

Giving credit where it's due

Alternet produces some original content; however this was a reprint of a March 19 post at one of The Century Foundation's blogs, Healthbeat, entitled "Pfizer Enlists a Labor Union (SEIU) to Promote the 'Cholesterol Con'"

http://www.healthbeatblog.org/2008/03/pfizer-enlists.html

the author followed up with a response by the union...more later...

Beth Wellington, Newport, VA
The Writing Corner
http://bethwellington.blogspot.com