Report: Lilly tied strings to Ga. offer

[IndianaGreen]

October 20, 2005

Report: Lilly tied strings to Ga. offer

Associated Press

ATLANTA -- Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. proposed giving up to $5 million to Georgia's Medicaid program if the state lifted restrictions on four of the company's drugs.

The offer was described in documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Indianapolis-based company's proposal contradicts past statements by aides to Gov. Sonny Perdue, who said the donation came with no strings attached.

The money, described as a "benevolent offer" by a Perdue spokesman, would help pay the costs of developing the governor's Medicaid reform proposal, state officials said.

But government e-mails show that state officials had discussed a deal with Eli Lilly. Eli Lilly's offer also caused dissent in the state's Medicaid agency.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051020/BUSINESS/510200499

[eowyn_of_rohan]

1. And this is why I don't trust any meds I am prescribed

I remember the movie The Fugitive, with Harrison Ford, which dealt with this very topic. Back then I was naive enough to think the concept was far fetched.

[pinniped]

8. Fugitive is exactly what I had in mind.

Back then liver damage was a big deal. These days a lot of drugs have seem to have this side effect.

[CottonBear]

2. I'll say it again: Sonny Perdue is a supreme asshat.

I met him at a RW political BBQ. He asked for my vote. I said "I have never and will never vote for a Republican."

Signed,

Disgusted GA Democrat. :grr:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. Is he related to the Perdues of chicken fame?

They're from Maryland's Eastern shore, which might as well be Geogia in many ways...

[CottonBear]

5. I don't know. I do know that my friend was his Vet School professor

(Medical Microbiology/Immunology) back when Purdue was in Vet School. Did you know he went to Vet School? He never practiced. You know who else got a degree at the school (PhD, Vet Pharmacology) back in the 1970s? Former FDA head, Lester Crawford. (Political hack surpreme.) Perdue is a GA good old boy, used to be a Democrat until the RW became ascendent in GA. No love lost on either of these asshats.

[CAG]

4. This, my friend, is just the tip of the iceberg....

Big pharma can bribe anyone at anytime.

Lilly is really starting to make Pfizer look like Mother Teresa.

[uppityperson]

6. I'm looking forward to Michael Moore's taking on Pharm cos.

it will be good. Big drug companies, according to MM staff, have inside "alert! MM! practices to prepare for a grungy overweight white male with a baseball cap". Seriously.

[MisterP]

7. I got a pro-Prop. 78 call in Calif. today