PILL PUSHER BOOKSTORE ANNOUNCEMENT!

We've officially been accepted into our FIRST bookstore!! For our friends in and around the N.O., please stop in and visit Britton Trice and the good people at The Garden District Book Shop. We're still working on a book signing there too. Please forward this e-mail to anyone and everyone you know in the N.O. area that might have some interest in a GREAT story! We'd love to cause a stampede for the book! Thanks for your support!

http://www.gardendistrictbookshop.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp

For more info on the book, check it out on the web at: www.PillPushersTheBook.com Part of the story takes place in N.O. with scenes on campus at LSU too!

Marketing vs Research

I think most of you are aware of this info posted on Mercola.com ... I'm really concerned with the push on marketing vs research though! Check it out!!



Shocking Facts About the Pharmaceutical Industry

Big drug companies have been accused of putting profits above patients, spinning false PR campaigns and more. Here are some of the most shocking facts about the pharmaceutical industry.

The price of drugs is increasing faster than anything else a patient pays for: The prices of the most heavily prescribed drugs are routinely jacked up, sometimes several times a year. Some medications have a mark-up of 1,000 percent over the cost of their ingredients.

Your doctor may have an ulterior motive behind your prescription: Drug reps often give gifts to convince doctors to prescribe the medications that they represent. These drug reps usually have no medical or science education.

Pharmaceutical companies spend more on marketing than research: Almost twice as much!

Guilty of Medicare fraud: Pharmaceutical companies are being tried in federal courts as a result of their exploitation of Medicare. AstraZeneca had to pay more than $340 million in penalties for coaching doctors to cheat Medicare.

The combined wealth of the top 5 pharmaceutical companies outweigh GNP of sub-Saharan Africa: In fact, the combined worth of the world’s top five drug companies is twice the combined GNP of that entire region.

Americans pay more for prescription meds than anyone else in the world: $200 billion in 2002 alone.

"New" Drugs aren't really new: Two-thirds of “new” prescription drugs are identical to existing drugs or modified versions of them.

Drug companies are taking advantage of underdeveloped countries to perform clinical trials: In developing countries, government oversight is more lax.

Message From Europe

Pill Pushers has fans across the pond!

Laura and I met Peter and Dee in Italy last year. They ordered Pill Pushers and are now weighing in with their comments!

Just a quick email to let you know that both Peter and I have read your book and thought it was great. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and it gave us an insight into a world that neither of us knew anything about. Many thanks again for sending it to us.

ANOTHER FORMER PILL PUSHER!!!

This is a column from a good website! Check it out!

Former Drug Sales Rep Tells All

Shahram Ahari, who spent two years selling Prozac and Zypraxa for Eli Lily, told a Senate Aging Committee that his job involved "rewarding physicians with gifts and attention for their allegiance to your product and company despite what may be ethically appropriate." Ahari claims that drug companies often hire former cheerleaders and ex-models, as well as former athletes and members of the military, even if they have no background in science. During their five-week training class, Ahari says he was taught sales tactics such as: How to exceed spending limits for important clients How to be generous with free samples to leverage sales How to use friendships and personal gifts to foster a "quid pro quo" relationship How to exploit sexual tension Ahari claims that he's even heard stories about sales reps helping to pay the cost of a doctor's swimming pool, or taking a doctor to a nightclub where a hostess was paid to keep him company. For this work, sales reps often earned more than researchers. On top of a base salary of $50,000 for starting reps, Ahari says, "there were four quarterly bonuses, an annual bonus, stock options, a car, 401K, great health benefits, and a $60,000 expense account."

Interest In The Book

The book has been receiving quite a bit of interest recently! It is a great story that reveals the details of how the pharmaceutical industry influences your health care!

Check the book out at www. PillPushersTheBook.com

FDA On The Prowl

Consumers should be aware of things the FDA is doing aside from pharmaceuticals.

Are they overstepping their bounds?

http://obrl.blogspot.com/2008/03/fda-goons-attacking-natural-raw-milk.html

OH I am so sick of the FDA. They are absolutely
over-stepping their bounds. And they do it all the
time with raw milk producers. The raw milk farmers in
Louisiana have been endlessly harassed by the FDA,
trying to shut down their livelihood, so unless you
know a farmer personally, we/anbody can't get raw
milk. Farmers used to list their farms on
realmilk.com and many have taken their names off so
the FDA doesn't harass them.

It's such a joke. Glad my tax dollars are hard at
work.

I am SO excited for what you are doing. Keep up the
NECESSARY work! People are so ignorant of what's
going on these days.

Comments From Colorado!!

Thank you Donna C.! We love the honesty!

I just finished your book last night. I am a huge
reader (one book a week) and I've read maybe five
fiction books in ten years - don't like to waste my
time on fiction. HOWEVER, your book was excellent! I
know it's fiction, but I could see the truth in it and
I learned a lot.

The only part I did not care for (and you knew this
was coming :) were pages 243 and 244 detailing the
encounter between Brosnan and his mistress. We know
he's sleezy already, and I felt y'all could have made
it *much* more powerful by leaving out the raunchy,
smutty terms and left more up to the reader's
imagination. It almost ruined the whole book for me,
frankly. And to me personally, it made null and void
Jennifer's dedication in the beginning of the book. I
would not ask Jesus to read that chapter for me to see
if it was acceptable in His eyes.

I also found a few typographical errors. :)

Other than the above, though, Ces, EXECELLENT,
EXCELLENT book! You're a man of many talents!

If you ever want me to proofread your work, let me
know! I'm not too expensive! ;)

Pill Pushers In Paris!!