Exposing The Drug Industry - Gwen Olsen An Rx Reformer

Well this isn't a surprise to many of us, but I always appreciate an insiders perspective on these subjects and Gwen Olsen is one of those people. Here is a candid interview that confirms the profit driven shenanigans that happen in this industry. Sounds like there is not much room for altruism....imagine that. The Q and A session is quite revealing, and only fortifies the mistrust towards this industry.
Some of this stuff sounds like it should be illegal, but instead it is promoted and required.

Adam Omkara: And you said you were actually trained to misinform people- Can you elaborate on that?

Gwen: Well, initially when you start pharmaceutical sales training you are taken into the home office for a sort of 'indoctrination' that's 2-6 weeks of intensive training. That's where the industry turns representatives into psychological profilers and people pleasers. The reps learn how to be people analyzers, so they know how to best influence people. We were taught in training sessions called 'knee to knees' and 'toe to toes' where you have a line of reps that play the doctor and opposing lines that play the rep position.

You have to learn verbatim the company's position and their marketing lines- you can't even vary from that. You practice and practice until it flows naturally and doesn't sound rehearsed.

I started recognizing really that I was being trained to divert doctor's attention away from his/her concerns. So, I was learning to misinform and disinform- to counter the doctor's valid concerns. I wasn't trained to say "this drug is bad for that patient" or "watch out for this drug's interaction with that one." Any information perceived as a negative was always being candy coated.

In fact many times we would be called into a meeting when a new sales piece was being introduced. Managers would ask us questions on what aspects of the piece we received the most objections on. What were the parts that raised the most concern? After we gave the marketing department that feedback, the next period they would come up with a different layout that had manipulated and minimized the objectionable data. So, it was a constant set of circumstances where I began to see that I wasn't allowed to give good information and I wasn't given good information to share.

The industry knows that many of their drugs aren't safe and that they don't heal people. In fact, some drugs are designed to make symptoms worse later on.

When I started becoming pro-active and began to ask too many critically intelligent questions, management objected and discouraged me. I was frequently met with answers such as "We do it that way because we can", or "We sell more pills that way."

It was apparent my inquiries were not welcomed!

It was almost like being in the military, in fact, many of my ex-managers had been in the military. Many are hired because they have great work ethics and they don't ask a lot of questions. Military personnel are used to working on a 'need to know' basis.

Wow, confirmation on what so many suspect. I have several friends that are pharma reps, and only 2 of them have ever spoken against their co's, and it was in regard to medicating our children. But the others get really nervous when talking about any injustices, as if they are trying really hard to pretend/deny any wrong doing. One of them told me he could not believe how excited some of his doctor's get over the 100 dollar bonus for trying out new drugs. He said many of them don't even want to hear the spiel, just drop em off and leave em' a check. Here is some more:

Washington D.C., March 27, 2011 - Pharmaceuticals are a $650 plus billion dollar a year industry. For years the most profitable business in the U.S. has been the pharmaceutical corporations, which routinely top the annual fortune 500 list. Doctor prescribed drugs support an industry which out-earns the GNP of many nations.

A core attribute to big Pharma's overwhelming 'success' lays in the liaison between the corporations and the 'symptoms management' health care industry: The pharmaceutical representative. The men and women we see meeting with physicians, walking into offices with gifts of lunch for the staff, meeting with the doctor while you wait for our appointment.

Gwen Olsen was a top level pharmaceutical rep for some of the biggest in the industry: Johnson & Johnson, Syntex Labs, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories and Forest Laboratories.

Through some chilling wake up calls in her tenure, and the tragic drug-related death of her niece, Gwen has dedicated her life to making people aware of the dangers of prescription drugs and how the drug industry manipulates doctors into prescribing, and over prescribing, their drugs.

She is exposing the dark, deep-rooted deception and corruption that is prevalent in this industry.

Gwen Olsens words are powerful. Her message absolutely frightening. Below is a transcript of our conversation as well as a video of Gwen speaking out, including her appearance on a CBS Evening News Eye On Your Children news segment.

Source

I will also include a link for the story about the largest Pharma lawsuit in history, for the sake of interest:
www.justicenewsflash.com...

Here is a complete list of the lawsuits invovlving Big Pharma: Very Interesting....
HERE

Peace,
spec

I am a former specialty Neurological rep for the largest pharmaceutical company in the world. I was taught to lead doctors to ask questions about using a drug off-label. I knew it didn't work, and we had flimsy studies to support promoting the drug's use off-label, but my job was to expand the doctor's use of the drug any way I could.

I was good. Top performer. And I knew how to work the system. I will tell you one thing- after working in the industry, most drugs are harmful. There are good drugs. At the end of my reign I learned that the best way to get a doctor to write prescriptions for my drug was to simplify dosing. I would simplify dosing and titration, so that the doctor would write my drug first, because he didn't have to go consult the pdr (physician's desk reference). He knew my drug, so he wrote my drug. He/she wrote my drug, and he became a keynote speaker for us, and got to fly to exotic locales with his/her spouse.

My budget was outrageous and wasteful. I was encouraged to spend gross amounts of cash, and I did. I could only spend it on food and entertainment....but boy did I.

I can think of a million ways to cut costs, so that the product ultimately costs the consumer much less. That will never happen. And I can guarantee that if the money blown on pens, trips, lunchs, dinners and round-table discussions went to R and D (research and development) we would see cures, instead of just treatments.

Pharma will NEVER cure modern diseases even if they could. Their intent is to treat symptoms of the disease, that is where the money is.

How can they be concerned about us getting better when they make money off us being sick? S&f, modern medicine needs to be used sometimes but very rarely, for everything but the most serious stuff I thing you should just live a holistic life.

reply to post by lostviking

Thank you for a candid and thoughtful response. What you say is true and I have heard the same stories. Funny(not) how money keeps people not only quiet, but alters they way of thinking, as in fortifies the denial.
Some of them get really defensive too, as if some of them know they are doing wrong.
It just re-affirms my notion that we have to do a better job of taking care of ourselves, as in what we eat and getting some exercise, and even doing a little research on any prescribed drugs.
I was glad to see Gwen speak out about this, and hope this thread serves as an informative piece about some of the ills with big Pharma.

Peace,
spec

reply to post by XxRagingxPandaxX

Agreed RP, same as it ever was, huh? Well at least we get some insiders sometimes to get us a truer perspective about the inside workings of this industry.
Thanks for the reply....

Peace,
spec

I was looking for an appropriate thread for my comments here. Hopefully this is.
I recently had a large amount of grey hairs on my head. It was more than half, in fact. Now, there are far fewer. I also haven't dyed my hair.
For 20 years I worked shifts, mostly night shift every 3rd week. That ages a person, quite a bit. In about its last 4 years, I would take melatonin at least for the 1st 3 days of the night shift, and again for the 1st 3 nights after the last night of night shift. After ending shifts I often took it. It was mostly to keep readjusting to sleeping nights. I still take it, but not so much.
Melatonin is a natural sleeping pill. The pineal gland ('3rd eye') secretes it. It can also be taken for jet lag - crossing many time zones. Now, Melatonin is also anti-aging. It is said that in India there are people centuries old. But that is very much hushed up, in the west. They have large amounts of melatonin in their blood. The pineal gland is also linked to spirituality. So, the more spiritually inclined one is, the more active it is.
Now, the main point I wanted to mention is that melatonin used to be freely available at health shops (at least here). Someone there said that only after the age of 45 should one take it regularly. But now it's gone behind the prescription counter, with the Pharmacist trying to persuade one not to buy it. They say things like it causes depression. (I think depression is mostly psychological. It never made me depressed. One would need to be as spiritually inclined as one can, to handle it.) It has 80 to 100 times more melatonin than the body. (And so? It's a natural substance. I'd just take half a melatonin now.) It completely throws one's sleeping pattern out. (Yeah, so take it before sleeping at night, when one usually sleeps.) And so on. He also said he wouldn't touch it, and has a PhD in Pharmacy. (But how spiritual is he?)
What I reckon is really happening, is that the drug industry wants to control the world, and such like. Money orientated. In USA for instance, it is said that by a few years time they want at least every 2nd person on prescription drugs. So, hush up the sleeping pill that's a natural substance, and that really works. Same with other things that really work. Melatonin will more than likely become more and more difficult to obtain. Probably eventually need to show an airplane ticket crossing some time zones, and just get a few.