Yesterday we blogged here ("Why Drug Lawsuits are Necessary: FDA “isn’t capable of policing” drug safety, says Alaska Judge") about Zyprexa lawsuits, particularly the state of Alaska's (seeking to recoup the cost of treating Medicaid patients who took Zyprexa and whom Alaska alleges suffered diabetes and weight gain as a result) and the national class action in federal Court in New York, alleging that Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) illegally promoted Zyprexa for unapproved and unproven uses (so-called "off-label marketing.")
Zyprexa's success was due in large part to the enormous marketing campaign that Eli Lilly put behind it. Lilly's pharmaceutical salespeople were the cornerstone of that effort. One former "sales rep," Shahram Ahari, saw the error of his ways and now devotes his time to exposing the wrongs of pharmaceutical marketing and to supporting efforts to curtail that marketing.
Last night, he appeared on New England Cable News, talking about his experiences as a drug rep and what's wrong with drug marketing:
Many readers may be familiar with Shahram as something of a YouTube celebrity for this clip as well: