PhRMA_The Karasik Conspiracy--100 E-mails made public

[Guest guest]

PhRMA_ " The Karasik Conspiracy " --100 E-mails made public

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)

Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and

Accountability

www.ahrp.org

FYI

The year 2005 will surely be the year in which

the pharmaceutical industry's

dirty tricks and underhanded tactics were

revealed for what they are--a

menace to society.

" The Karasik Conspiracy: A Prescription for

Terrorism " by Kenin Spivak and

Chrystyn--

[see authors credentials:

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/bio.htm ]

The Los Angeles Times suggested: " think 'True

Lies' meets the Physicians

Desk Reference. "

This is the book industry's trade organization,

the Pharmaceutical Research

and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) tried to

commission.

Why sponsor the book? For the sole purpose of

scaring Americans who sought

to cut down on the exorbitant cost of drugs in

the U.S. by importing them

from Canada.

The book has turned out to be the most revealing

portrait of PhRMA modus

operandi and an example of its devious dirty

tricks.

Below is an amazing documented account by Kenin

Spivak of how the book came

into being—as posted on the book's website: See:

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/

" When is a cover up worse than the original crime

(and when isn't it)? What

did the higher-ups at PhRMA know and when did

they know it? "

" what lobbying group thinks giving " low-level "

employees discretionary

authority over $1 million is nothing more than a

rounding error? "

" All this and more has been illuminated by the

literary and political

missteps of what is probably the most reviled

corporate lobbying

organization in Washington. "

Read all about it--the Karasik Conspiracy website

includes more than 100

e-mails among the players, revealing PhRMA's

involvement—

including its attempt to bribe the authors into

NOT publishing when it

became obvious the book would backfire--

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/courtship.htm;

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/marriage.htm;

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/divorce.htm

" The story begins in late March 2005 when

Barondess, who is also Larry

King's lawyer, approached Viner,

president of Beverly Hills-based

Phoenix

Books with a plan for PhRMA to fund the creation

and publication of a novel

about a terrorist attack against the United

States utilizing counterfeit

pharmaceuticals distributed via on-line Canadian

pharmacies. They agreed on

a $300,000 budget to cover ghostwriter

Chrystyn and promotion costs

and PhRMA talked about buying at least 40,000

books. told The

Washington Post that the money was just a small

sum for research costs. If a

PhRMA deputy vice president can commit to

$300,000 and 40,000 books, a total

of about $1 million, what can a full vice

president commit? Or ? Or

PhRMA's CEO Tauzin? With PhRMA's dismissive

view of $1 million is it

any surprise drug prices are so high? "

" The literary whizzes at PhRMA decided that the

book should view the

pharmaceuticals industry as heroic, avoid any

complicated themes so it could

appeal to women (Volpe explained that women

couldn't understand complicated

plots)… "

hm.... " women couldn't understand complicated

plots.... "

My response: venal conduct is not at all

complicated to understand, once

it's been exposed in broad daylight--

Ditto for our ability to understand how this

industry's pattern of corrupt

practices has destroyed the integrity of medicine

by overturning the

scientific process for establishing truth.

Armed with tens of billions of dollars, Big

Pharma companies proceeded to

seduce key opinion leaders in medicine into

penning their names to

ghostwritten articles that are nothing but

marketing tools whose claims bear

no relation to the evidence; followed by editors

of premier journals who

thought nothing of publishing clinical trial

reports without examining the

data. Deceptive marketing claims in the

scientific literature and in direct

to consumer marketing were shielded by an

obliging FDA whose " don't' ask,

don't tell " policy violated FDA's mandate.

Not only did the FDA facilitate the corruption of

the medical literature,

FDA's failure to ensure that the public is

protected from unsafe and

ineffective drugs, and that physicians and the

public rare provided

scientifically accurate information, resulted in

hundreds of thousands of

preventable casualties of defective drugs,

vaccines, and medical devices.

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav

212-595-8974

veracare@...

From the web site:

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/backstory.htm

Are Lobbyists the New Novelists?

by Kenin M. Spivak

What has so scared the Pharmaceutical Research

and Manufacturers of America

(PhRMA) that Ken , its most senior

communications executive has taken

to calling Volpe, its deputy vice

president a " yo-yo? " When is a

cover up worse than the original crime (and when

isn't it)? What did the

higher-ups at PhRMA know and when did they know

it?

And, finally, what lobbying group thinks giving

" low-level " employees

discretionary authority over $1 million is

nothing more than a rounding

error? All this and more has been illuminated by

the literary and political

missteps of what is probably the most reviled

corporate lobbying

organization in Washington.

Americans pay the highest prices in the world for

prescription drugs. Job

One for the pharmaceutical industry's lobbying

organization, PhRMA, is to

keep Canadian drugs out of America. If those

levees break, the

pharmaceutical industry faces the financial

equivalent of Hurricane Katrina.

To secure the ramparts, PhRMA's lobbyists hammer

away at the theme that

imported drugs pose an unbearable threat to the

safety of U.S. citizens.

But a potential Armageddon isn't defense enough

for PhRMA. There's a lot of

money at stake. The five leading pharmaceutical

companies alone reported

revenues last year of $650 billion and cash flow

exceeding $90 billion. The

industry is so afraid of Canadian web sites that

PhRMA claims it created

pots of money for its employees to spend at their

own discretion on projects

to keep those levies strong. At least, that's

what PhRMA's Ken has

repeatedly asserted to defend the lobbying

group's involvement in The

Karasik Conspiracy, a thriller about terrorist

attacks via Canadian web

sites published this week.

When the press became critical of PhRMA's role as

the financier of the

original iteration of The Karasik Conspiracy,

PhRMA hid behind its

supposedly decentralized structure and

took to publicly disavowing

Volpe, the deputy vice president who commissioned

The Karasik Conspiracy, as

a " yo-yo, " a " renegade " and a " rogue employee. "

Perhaps a few condescending

smears in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times,

Slate and dozens of other

newspapers and blogs are just part of the job at

PhRMA.

Self-flagellation apparently is also a job

requirement. Perhaps that's why

after failing to silence the authors with money

and the most oppressive

contract known to lawyer-kind, PhRMA's long-time

consultant, Washington

heavyweight Mark Barondess repeatedly fell on his

sword, taking full

responsibility for the very acts that led

to first castigate and

then suspend Volpe. Barondess even tried to claim

that he alone paid for the

book. That effort fell flat when first

admitted to The Washington

Post that PhRMA had fronted some of the money,

and then finally came clean

to Toronto's Globe and Mail that PhRMA had fully

reimbursed Barondess.

Eventually, came to tout the circuitous

funding mechanism as a badge

of honor. More on that later.

The story begins in late March 2005 when

Barondess, who is also Larry King's

lawyer, approached Viner, president of

Beverly Hills-based Phoenix

Books with a plan for PhRMA to fund the creation

and publication of a novel

about a terrorist attack against the United

States utilizing counterfeit

pharmaceuticals distributed via on-line Canadian

pharmacies. They agreed on

a $300,000 budget to cover ghostwriter

Chrystyn and promotion costs

and PhRMA talked about buying at least 40,000

books. told The

Washington Post that the money was just a small

sum for research costs. If a

PhRMA deputy vice president can commit to

$300,000 and 40,000 books, a total

of about $1 million, what can a full vice

president commit? Or ? Or

PhRMA's CEO Tauzin? With PhRMA's dismissive

view of $1 million is it

any surprise drug prices are so high?

Chrystyn was given just 45 days in which to

complete the assignment so the

book could be published before hearings on

legislation that would weaken the

Medicine Equity and Drug Safety Act of 2000 by

eliminating the requirement

that the Secretary of Health and Human Services

certify the safety of drugs

imported from Canada. Weakening the Medicine

Equity and Drug Safety Act is

the equivalent of three back-to-back Katrinas for

the pharmaceuticals

industry.

The literary whizzes at PhRMA decided that the

book should view the

pharmaceuticals industry as heroic, avoid any

complicated themes so it could

appeal to women (Volpe explained that women

couldn't understand complicated

plots), make fundamentalist Muslims the

terrorists (Volpe said terrorists

are " born " that way and don't evolve) and greed

their motive. Frequent

gratuitous speeches about the evils of drug

importation were also welcome.

When I observed that PhRMA's premise and story

ideas were trite and

incorrect and could lead to a backlash I was

basically told to shut up.

I worked with Chrystyn to create the non-existent

genre sought by PhRMA (a

dumbed-down, simplistic thriller with ranting

Muslims and preachy speeches

about drug importation that would appeal to

women). After the book was

delivered, Barondess told Phoenix that PhRMA was

pulling out. He blamed the

decision on our alleged failure to create the

next best-seller (surprise,

surprise, given our marching orders) and denied –

in writing – that the

decision was a change of heart by PhRMA. Yet, in

nearly a dozen interviews

since then, both PhRMA's Ken and

Barondess himself have contended

the plug was pulled because PhRMA thought it was

a bad idea for PhRMA to

fund any novel, let alone this one. has

gone so far as to call the

idea " underhanded, " " sneaky " and " looney tunes. "

On the pretext that the book failed to meet

PhRMA's objectives, PhRMA

refused to honor Phoenix's invoices. In my

opinion as former chairman of a

publishing company and former COO of MGM/UA, that

sounds " underhanded, "

" sneaky " and " looney tunes. "

Having thereby avoided its obligations, the

intimidation and cover-up began.

After PhRMA's withdrawal, rights in the book

reverted to Chrystyn and then

to Spivak Management Inc. It was rewritten into a

much more complex thriller

without the polemics, cliché fundamentalist

Muslims or fluffy " women's "

content required by PhRMA. The new book has been

called " riveting " and

" refreshing. "

When Viner advised Barondess that Phoenix

intended to publish The Karasik

Conspiracy, Barondess demanded that it not

include any mention of what had

transpired, or any criticism of the

pharmaceuticals industry or PhRMA.

According to Viner, Barondess threatened to bring

down Phoenix if Viner

proceeded. When that didn't work, Barondess sent

Viner a " non-negotiable "

agreement. He not only insisted that Viner sign

the agreement, but that

Chrystyn and I do so, as well.

The agreement offered Phoenix $100,000 and in

return granted Barondess the

right to read and approve (or disapprove) the

manuscript, and with

extraordinary arrogance, required that forever,

none of Phoenix, Viner or

the authors could " in any of their public,

private, or promotional

statements or writings…in any manner disparage,

denigrate, demean,

criticize, malign or cast in an unlawful or

unethical light Barondess, the

pharmaceutical industry, or PhRMA. "

Chrystyn, Viner and I immediately rejected the

contract.

PhRMA's next effort to stop the book was a smear

campaign in which

and Barondess – neither of whom had ever read the

book being published, nor

any draft of the book since PhRMA's withdrawal –

derisively castigated the

book and urged consumers not to buy it. Barondess

also stopped promotion on

another Phoenix book in which he was involved and

got CNN to require Phoenix

to remove a Larry King quote from The Karasik

Conspiracy's cover.

Before Barondess' change-of-heart, as Larry

King's lawyer, Barondess had

worked with Viner on a quote from King for the

book's cover. But, a PhRMA

consultant scorned is fearsome indeed. Barondess

got CNN to instruct King

and Phoenix that the quote be removed from the

book. He alleged that King

had never approved of the quote, conveniently

ignoring that the quote had

appeared on numerous versions of the cover vetted

by Barondess. It is

unclear why Barondess didn't simply ask his

client to remove the quote and

instead got CNN to do his dirty work for him.

Larry King's quote is not the only apparent

inconsistency in PhRMA's version

of events.

Barondess told NPR's On the Media that he

personally funded the book. He

apparently told Fortune and Slate that he did so

using a personal

discretionary account. told Slate that

Barondess had no

discretionary account at PhRMA and insisted it

was Volpe who had discretion.

explained to Crain's leading trade

journal, Modern Healthcare, that

while PhRMA had originally funded the book, it

wasn't really involved.

's convoluted logic: " We had an employee

[deputy vice president

Volpe] who paid a consultant [barondess] who then

passed on money to a

publisher [Phoenix]. " When his explanation wasn't

working, tried a

second time. " We made a payment to a consultant

who made a payment from his

own account to the publisher, " explained.

I get it. Because the money was laundered through

a paid consultant, PhRMA

didn't actually make the payment.

On the other hand, whether PhRMA knew it, or not,

it appears that not all of

the money reached Phoenix. Slate reported that

after receiving the money

from PhRMA, Barondess admitted first pocketing a

25% cut for himself before

remitting the balance to Phoenix. Barondess is

also paid a retainer by PhRMA

and unlike the hapless Volpe, he told On the

Media that he remains actively

engaged by PhRMA. Actually, we don't know whether

Volpe is on or off the

payroll. We only know she has been " suspended. "

But for what? admits Volpe had a

discretionary budget. He has never

claimed she exceeded the budget. And, while

Barondess and persist in

claiming that Barondess, er, Volpe, acted alone,

an e-mail from Volpe to

Barondess makes clear that the payments to

Barondess for Phoenix were

approved by PhRMA's legal department. Barondess

has even admitted to at

least one reporter that he received approval for

his idea from someone at

PhRMA. It begins to appear that Volpe is being

made the scapegoat. While her

literary judgments and knowledge of history in

the Balkans are, in my

opinion, quite weak, it is difficult to see the

offense that got her

suspended, other than being a convenient target.

Perhaps she needs to learn

Barondess' skills at self-immolation (even

ate just a wee bit of

crow when he admitted to The Los Angeles Times

that PhRMA's reputation

suffered from " a lot of baggage " ).

In the remote event that Barondess, Volpe and the

PhRMA lawyers entered into

the deal with Phoenix and paid Phoenix without

informing higher-ups at

PhRMA, that would seem to have been the purpose

of the decentralized

authority granted to Volpe and presumably others.

If things went well,

and PhRMA CEO Tauzin could claim

the credit and if things went

poorly, as they did in this instance, they could

hide behind the deniability

of their decentralized structure. The President

should have it so good.

Candor doesn't seem to be on the top of the list

at PhRMA. When I told On

the Media that Barondess had tried to silence the

authors and publisher for

the rest of our lives, Barondess denied it. Yet,

the contract written by

Barondess clearly prohibits the authors and

publisher forever from

" criticizing " Barondess, the pharmaceutical

industry, or PhRMA in any

" public, private, or promotional statements or

writings. "

What is really at stake here? The profits of one

of America's largest global

businesses and the veracity of its lobby.

As rewritten, The Karasik Conspiracy is a

well-received thriller about two

terrorist attacks on the United States, one

organized by the Karasik

Commission, a terrorist cell originally from the

Balkans, and the other by

PharmCorp, one of the world's largest

pharmaceutical companies. Tainted

drugs are unleashed via Internet sales in a

terrifying attack on those most

in need of help.

It is ironic that the book PhRMA has done so much

to stop still tells a

story about a terrorist attack using Canadian web

pharmacies. It is also

ironic that the hearings targeted by the book

have been delayed by the

events in Iraq and at home. It is almost

unimaginable what PhRMA must do

when its interests are really threatened.

The book includes an afterword that explains what

really happened and

includes excerpts from Barondess' emails and the

contract Barondess prepared

to silence the authors and publisher. The book's

web site,

www.karasikconspiracy.com, will include more than

100 emails among

Barondess, Volpe, Viner, Spivak and Chrystyn. The

emails are a chilling

reminder that without written proof, too many

Washington lobbyists might be

able to rewrite reality and that given

self-interest to do so, they will.

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_______________________________________________

[Guest guest]

PhRMA_ " The Karasik Conspiracy " --100 E-mails made public

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION (AHRP)

Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and

Accountability

www.ahrp.org

FYI

The year 2005 will surely be the year in which

the pharmaceutical industry's

dirty tricks and underhanded tactics were

revealed for what they are--a

menace to society.

" The Karasik Conspiracy: A Prescription for

Terrorism " by Kenin Spivak and

Chrystyn--

[see authors credentials:

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/bio.htm ]

The Los Angeles Times suggested: " think 'True

Lies' meets the Physicians

Desk Reference. "

This is the book industry's trade organization,

the Pharmaceutical Research

and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) tried to

commission.

Why sponsor the book? For the sole purpose of

scaring Americans who sought

to cut down on the exorbitant cost of drugs in

the U.S. by importing them

from Canada.

The book has turned out to be the most revealing

portrait of PhRMA modus

operandi and an example of its devious dirty

tricks.

Below is an amazing documented account by Kenin

Spivak of how the book came

into being—as posted on the book's website: See:

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/

" When is a cover up worse than the original crime

(and when isn't it)? What

did the higher-ups at PhRMA know and when did

they know it? "

" what lobbying group thinks giving " low-level "

employees discretionary

authority over $1 million is nothing more than a

rounding error? "

" All this and more has been illuminated by the

literary and political

missteps of what is probably the most reviled

corporate lobbying

organization in Washington. "

Read all about it--the Karasik Conspiracy website

includes more than 100

e-mails among the players, revealing PhRMA's

involvement—

including its attempt to bribe the authors into

NOT publishing when it

became obvious the book would backfire--

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/courtship.htm;

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/marriage.htm;

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/divorce.htm

" The story begins in late March 2005 when

Barondess, who is also Larry

King's lawyer, approached Viner,

president of Beverly Hills-based

Phoenix

Books with a plan for PhRMA to fund the creation

and publication of a novel

about a terrorist attack against the United

States utilizing counterfeit

pharmaceuticals distributed via on-line Canadian

pharmacies. They agreed on

a $300,000 budget to cover ghostwriter

Chrystyn and promotion costs

and PhRMA talked about buying at least 40,000

books. told The

Washington Post that the money was just a small

sum for research costs. If a

PhRMA deputy vice president can commit to

$300,000 and 40,000 books, a total

of about $1 million, what can a full vice

president commit? Or ? Or

PhRMA's CEO Tauzin? With PhRMA's dismissive

view of $1 million is it

any surprise drug prices are so high? "

" The literary whizzes at PhRMA decided that the

book should view the

pharmaceuticals industry as heroic, avoid any

complicated themes so it could

appeal to women (Volpe explained that women

couldn't understand complicated

plots)… "

hm.... " women couldn't understand complicated

plots.... "

My response: venal conduct is not at all

complicated to understand, once

it's been exposed in broad daylight--

Ditto for our ability to understand how this

industry's pattern of corrupt

practices has destroyed the integrity of medicine

by overturning the

scientific process for establishing truth.

Armed with tens of billions of dollars, Big

Pharma companies proceeded to

seduce key opinion leaders in medicine into

penning their names to

ghostwritten articles that are nothing but

marketing tools whose claims bear

no relation to the evidence; followed by editors

of premier journals who

thought nothing of publishing clinical trial

reports without examining the

data. Deceptive marketing claims in the

scientific literature and in direct

to consumer marketing were shielded by an

obliging FDA whose " don't' ask,

don't tell " policy violated FDA's mandate.

Not only did the FDA facilitate the corruption of

the medical literature,

FDA's failure to ensure that the public is

protected from unsafe and

ineffective drugs, and that physicians and the

public rare provided

scientifically accurate information, resulted in

hundreds of thousands of

preventable casualties of defective drugs,

vaccines, and medical devices.

Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav

212-595-8974

veracare@...

From the web site:

http://www.thekarasikconspiracy.com/backstory.htm

Are Lobbyists the New Novelists?

by Kenin M. Spivak

What has so scared the Pharmaceutical Research

and Manufacturers of America

(PhRMA) that Ken , its most senior

communications executive has taken

to calling Volpe, its deputy vice

president a " yo-yo? " When is a

cover up worse than the original crime (and when

isn't it)? What did the

higher-ups at PhRMA know and when did they know

it?

And, finally, what lobbying group thinks giving

" low-level " employees

discretionary authority over $1 million is

nothing more than a rounding

error? All this and more has been illuminated by

the literary and political

missteps of what is probably the most reviled

corporate lobbying

organization in Washington.

Americans pay the highest prices in the world for

prescription drugs. Job

One for the pharmaceutical industry's lobbying

organization, PhRMA, is to

keep Canadian drugs out of America. If those

levees break, the

pharmaceutical industry faces the financial

equivalent of Hurricane Katrina.

To secure the ramparts, PhRMA's lobbyists hammer

away at the theme that

imported drugs pose an unbearable threat to the

safety of U.S. citizens.

But a potential Armageddon isn't defense enough

for PhRMA. There's a lot of

money at stake. The five leading pharmaceutical

companies alone reported

revenues last year of $650 billion and cash flow

exceeding $90 billion. The

industry is so afraid of Canadian web sites that

PhRMA claims it created

pots of money for its employees to spend at their

own discretion on projects

to keep those levies strong. At least, that's

what PhRMA's Ken has

repeatedly asserted to defend the lobbying

group's involvement in The

Karasik Conspiracy, a thriller about terrorist

attacks via Canadian web

sites published this week.

When the press became critical of PhRMA's role as

the financier of the

original iteration of The Karasik Conspiracy,

PhRMA hid behind its

supposedly decentralized structure and

took to publicly disavowing

Volpe, the deputy vice president who commissioned

The Karasik Conspiracy, as

a " yo-yo, " a " renegade " and a " rogue employee. "

Perhaps a few condescending

smears in The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times,

Slate and dozens of other

newspapers and blogs are just part of the job at

PhRMA.

Self-flagellation apparently is also a job

requirement. Perhaps that's why

after failing to silence the authors with money

and the most oppressive

contract known to lawyer-kind, PhRMA's long-time

consultant, Washington

heavyweight Mark Barondess repeatedly fell on his

sword, taking full

responsibility for the very acts that led

to first castigate and

then suspend Volpe. Barondess even tried to claim

that he alone paid for the

book. That effort fell flat when first

admitted to The Washington

Post that PhRMA had fronted some of the money,

and then finally came clean

to Toronto's Globe and Mail that PhRMA had fully

reimbursed Barondess.

Eventually, came to tout the circuitous

funding mechanism as a badge

of honor. More on that later.

The story begins in late March 2005 when

Barondess, who is also Larry King's

lawyer, approached Viner, president of

Beverly Hills-based Phoenix

Books with a plan for PhRMA to fund the creation

and publication of a novel

about a terrorist attack against the United

States utilizing counterfeit

pharmaceuticals distributed via on-line Canadian

pharmacies. They agreed on

a $300,000 budget to cover ghostwriter

Chrystyn and promotion costs

and PhRMA talked about buying at least 40,000

books. told The

Washington Post that the money was just a small

sum for research costs. If a

PhRMA deputy vice president can commit to

$300,000 and 40,000 books, a total

of about $1 million, what can a full vice

president commit? Or ? Or

PhRMA's CEO Tauzin? With PhRMA's dismissive

view of $1 million is it

any surprise drug prices are so high?

Chrystyn was given just 45 days in which to

complete the assignment so the

book could be published before hearings on

legislation that would weaken the

Medicine Equity and Drug Safety Act of 2000 by

eliminating the requirement

that the Secretary of Health and Human Services

certify the safety of drugs

imported from Canada. Weakening the Medicine

Equity and Drug Safety Act is

the equivalent of three back-to-back Katrinas for

the pharmaceuticals

industry.

The literary whizzes at PhRMA decided that the

book should view the

pharmaceuticals industry as heroic, avoid any

complicated themes so it could

appeal to women (Volpe explained that women

couldn't understand complicated

plots), make fundamentalist Muslims the

terrorists (Volpe said terrorists

are " born " that way and don't evolve) and greed

their motive. Frequent

gratuitous speeches about the evils of drug

importation were also welcome.

When I observed that PhRMA's premise and story

ideas were trite and

incorrect and could lead to a backlash I was

basically told to shut up.

I worked with Chrystyn to create the non-existent

genre sought by PhRMA (a

dumbed-down, simplistic thriller with ranting

Muslims and preachy speeches

about drug importation that would appeal to

women). After the book was

delivered, Barondess told Phoenix that PhRMA was

pulling out. He blamed the

decision on our alleged failure to create the

next best-seller (surprise,

surprise, given our marching orders) and denied –

in writing – that the

decision was a change of heart by PhRMA. Yet, in

nearly a dozen interviews

since then, both PhRMA's Ken and

Barondess himself have contended

the plug was pulled because PhRMA thought it was

a bad idea for PhRMA to

fund any novel, let alone this one. has

gone so far as to call the

idea " underhanded, " " sneaky " and " looney tunes. "

On the pretext that the book failed to meet

PhRMA's objectives, PhRMA

refused to honor Phoenix's invoices. In my

opinion as former chairman of a

publishing company and former COO of MGM/UA, that

sounds " underhanded, "

" sneaky " and " looney tunes. "

Having thereby avoided its obligations, the

intimidation and cover-up began.

After PhRMA's withdrawal, rights in the book

reverted to Chrystyn and then

to Spivak Management Inc. It was rewritten into a

much more complex thriller

without the polemics, cliché fundamentalist

Muslims or fluffy " women's "

content required by PhRMA. The new book has been

called " riveting " and

" refreshing. "

When Viner advised Barondess that Phoenix

intended to publish The Karasik

Conspiracy, Barondess demanded that it not

include any mention of what had

transpired, or any criticism of the

pharmaceuticals industry or PhRMA.

According to Viner, Barondess threatened to bring

down Phoenix if Viner

proceeded. When that didn't work, Barondess sent

Viner a " non-negotiable "

agreement. He not only insisted that Viner sign

the agreement, but that

Chrystyn and I do so, as well.

The agreement offered Phoenix $100,000 and in

return granted Barondess the

right to read and approve (or disapprove) the

manuscript, and with

extraordinary arrogance, required that forever,

none of Phoenix, Viner or

the authors could " in any of their public,

private, or promotional

statements or writings…in any manner disparage,

denigrate, demean,

criticize, malign or cast in an unlawful or

unethical light Barondess, the

pharmaceutical industry, or PhRMA. "

Chrystyn, Viner and I immediately rejected the

contract.

PhRMA's next effort to stop the book was a smear

campaign in which

and Barondess – neither of whom had ever read the

book being published, nor

any draft of the book since PhRMA's withdrawal –

derisively castigated the

book and urged consumers not to buy it. Barondess

also stopped promotion on

another Phoenix book in which he was involved and

got CNN to require Phoenix

to remove a Larry King quote from The Karasik

Conspiracy's cover.

Before Barondess' change-of-heart, as Larry

King's lawyer, Barondess had

worked with Viner on a quote from King for the

book's cover. But, a PhRMA

consultant scorned is fearsome indeed. Barondess

got CNN to instruct King

and Phoenix that the quote be removed from the

book. He alleged that King

had never approved of the quote, conveniently

ignoring that the quote had

appeared on numerous versions of the cover vetted

by Barondess. It is

unclear why Barondess didn't simply ask his

client to remove the quote and

instead got CNN to do his dirty work for him.

Larry King's quote is not the only apparent

inconsistency in PhRMA's version

of events.

Barondess told NPR's On the Media that he

personally funded the book. He

apparently told Fortune and Slate that he did so

using a personal

discretionary account. told Slate that

Barondess had no

discretionary account at PhRMA and insisted it

was Volpe who had discretion.

explained to Crain's leading trade

journal, Modern Healthcare, that

while PhRMA had originally funded the book, it

wasn't really involved.

's convoluted logic: " We had an employee

[deputy vice president

Volpe] who paid a consultant [barondess] who then

passed on money to a

publisher [Phoenix]. " When his explanation wasn't

working, tried a

second time. " We made a payment to a consultant

who made a payment from his

own account to the publisher, " explained.

I get it. Because the money was laundered through

a paid consultant, PhRMA

didn't actually make the payment.

On the other hand, whether PhRMA knew it, or not,

it appears that not all of

the money reached Phoenix. Slate reported that

after receiving the money

from PhRMA, Barondess admitted first pocketing a

25% cut for himself before

remitting the balance to Phoenix. Barondess is

also paid a retainer by PhRMA

and unlike the hapless Volpe, he told On the

Media that he remains actively

engaged by PhRMA. Actually, we don't know whether

Volpe is on or off the

payroll. We only know she has been " suspended. "

But for what? admits Volpe had a

discretionary budget. He has never

claimed she exceeded the budget. And, while

Barondess and persist in

claiming that Barondess, er, Volpe, acted alone,

an e-mail from Volpe to

Barondess makes clear that the payments to

Barondess for Phoenix were

approved by PhRMA's legal department. Barondess

has even admitted to at

least one reporter that he received approval for

his idea from someone at

PhRMA. It begins to appear that Volpe is being

made the scapegoat. While her

literary judgments and knowledge of history in

the Balkans are, in my

opinion, quite weak, it is difficult to see the

offense that got her

suspended, other than being a convenient target.

Perhaps she needs to learn

Barondess' skills at self-immolation (even

ate just a wee bit of

crow when he admitted to The Los Angeles Times

that PhRMA's reputation

suffered from " a lot of baggage " ).

In the remote event that Barondess, Volpe and the

PhRMA lawyers entered into

the deal with Phoenix and paid Phoenix without

informing higher-ups at

PhRMA, that would seem to have been the purpose

of the decentralized

authority granted to Volpe and presumably others.

If things went well,

and PhRMA CEO Tauzin could claim

the credit and if things went

poorly, as they did in this instance, they could

hide behind the deniability

of their decentralized structure. The President

should have it so good.

Candor doesn't seem to be on the top of the list

at PhRMA. When I told On

the Media that Barondess had tried to silence the

authors and publisher for

the rest of our lives, Barondess denied it. Yet,

the contract written by

Barondess clearly prohibits the authors and

publisher forever from

" criticizing " Barondess, the pharmaceutical

industry, or PhRMA in any

" public, private, or promotional statements or

writings. "

What is really at stake here? The profits of one

of America's largest global

businesses and the veracity of its lobby.

As rewritten, The Karasik Conspiracy is a

well-received thriller about two

terrorist attacks on the United States, one

organized by the Karasik

Commission, a terrorist cell originally from the

Balkans, and the other by

PharmCorp, one of the world's largest

pharmaceutical companies. Tainted

drugs are unleashed via Internet sales in a

terrifying attack on those most

in need of help.

It is ironic that the book PhRMA has done so much

to stop still tells a

story about a terrorist attack using Canadian web

pharmacies. It is also

ironic that the hearings targeted by the book

have been delayed by the

events in Iraq and at home. It is almost

unimaginable what PhRMA must do

when its interests are really threatened.

The book includes an afterword that explains what

really happened and

includes excerpts from Barondess' emails and the

contract Barondess prepared

to silence the authors and publisher. The book's

web site,

www.karasikconspiracy.com, will include more than

100 emails among

Barondess, Volpe, Viner, Spivak and Chrystyn. The

emails are a chilling

reminder that without written proof, too many

Washington lobbyists might be

able to rewrite reality and that given

self-interest to do so, they will.

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