Re: www.depressioNet.com.au

[Guest guest]

Ooooooooooooh, they wouldn't want the truth posted now, would they????? And who sponsors THAT site? It is a human lab rat recruiting program or simply a propaganda site?

Blind Reason

a novel of espionage and pharmaceutical intrigue

Think your antidepressant is safe? Think again.

[Guest guest]

Ms Pethick, who started the website in 2000 after her own battle with

depression, agrees that encouraging more people to seek medical treatment

will expand the market for antidepressants in Australia. But she sees no

conflict of interest in accepting drug company sponsorship.

She also insists her website, which also received a one-off grant of $20,000

from another pharmaceutical giant and the makers of Prozac, Eli Lilly, is

able to remain independent.

Does she think we're all stupid and brain dead with that statement? She's as independent as ph Goebbels was to the Third Reich. This crap makes me sick!!! This is like the Freedom From Fear site that GSK sponsors and funds, where no matter what your complaint or how bad your experience with brain dope, you're told that all you need is the RIGHT medication, more of it, or for a longer period of time. These thugs make me sick! And now I get to go watch myself bash the biggest thug of all on TV!!!!!! LOL

Blind Reason

a novel of espionage and pharmaceutical intrigue

Think your antidepressant is safe? Think again.

[Guest guest]

Dear Glitter,

You said:

<<Ooooooooooooh, they wouldn't want the truth posted now, would they?????

And who sponsors THAT site? >>

** Wyeth, with a one-time grant also from Lilly.

You said:

<<It is a human lab rat recruiting program or simply a propaganda site?>>

** Both.

See the info below.

Leanne Pethick is the woman behind DepressioNet, an apparently independent

consumer website for people suffering from depression that claims to attract

more than 1 million visits every three months.

And international pharmaceutical giant Wyeth, which markets antidepressants,

is the company behind Leanne Pethick.

" DepressioNet would not exist today without Wyeth, " Ms Pethick readily

admits. " Wyeth is a company I am extremely proud to be associated with. "

Wyeth has provided $150,000 over the past three years to keep the

Melbourne-based DepressioNet running. But the links do not stop there.

Ms Pethick is also on the editorial board of Wyeth's own depression website

Yes To Life, and is a member of DepressioNet's medical advisory board. The

Yes To Life website links through to DepressioNet, which it describes as " an

independent resource " , without disclosing that it is substantially funded by

Wyeth.

Ms Pethick helps with training seminars for Wyeth's sales team and last year

took part in a promotional tour the pharmaceutical company organised for a

visiting US depression expert, Professor Keller.

Ms Pethick even thanked Wyeth on her website for the opportunity to help

with the national tour, which saw her costs paid by the company to take part

in panel discussions at meetings of doctors.

But what Wyeth did not tell Ms Pethick was that Professor Keller had been at

the centre of a row in his home town of Boston in 1999, when The Boston

Globe reported he failed to disclose more than $500,000 in consulting fees

from pharmaceutical companies, including Wyeth. The newspaper alleged

Professor Keller had praised the products of the companies at conferences

and in journal articles.

" No I wasn't aware of that, " Ms Pethick told The Age. " On that particular

tour, no particular product was mentioned. "

DepressioNet's stated aim is to " significantly increase the proportion of

Australian depression sufferers who seek help and treatment " .

Ms Pethick, who started the website in 2000 after her own battle with

depression, agrees that encouraging more people to seek medical treatment

will expand the market for antidepressants in Australia. But she sees no

conflict of interest in accepting drug company sponsorship.

She also insists her website, which also received a one-off grant of $20,000

from another pharmaceutical giant and the makers of Prozac, Eli Lilly, is

able to remain independent.

" The money we got from Wyeth was totally unconditional and helped us and

continues to help us to provide a vital service, " she said.

" Any money we get, we disclose. "

When her own savings ran out in 2001, Ms Pethick deliberately approached

companies in the antidepressant market because she thought they would be

more interested in sponsorship.

DepressioNet is not the only non-profit organisation advocating for patients

with mental illness that receives pharmaceutical industry financial backing.

The peak national body Sane Australia, the operating name of the

Schizophrenia Australia Foundation, relies on drug companies for about 25

per cent of its annual $1 million budget.

Last year Sane Australia used a grant from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, which

markets two schizophrenia drugs, to commission an Access Economics report on

the cost of schizophrenia to the community. The report found that many

sufferers were missing out on treatment and said some newer medicines could

be " extremely effective " in reducing symptoms.

Earlier this year Sane used a grant from GlaxoKline, which markets a

lithium-based drug for bipolar disorder, to commission a second Access

Economics report, this time on the cost of bipolar disorder to the

community. The report found that average treatment levels for sufferers was

less than a quarter of what was considered best practice.

Sane Australia's executive director, Barbara Hocking, said the organisation

accepted only unrestricted educational grants from pharmaceutical companies.

" We receive grants for specific purposes. The purposes we receive them for

are driven by us. We have our own guidelines, " she said.

Sane deliberately targeted Novartis and GlaxoKline to fund the two

Access Economics studies because they produced drugs in those markets.

" The reality is you go to where you feel the money is likely to come from

and it is precisely because those companies have products in that area that

we felt they would be interested in having this independent information, " Ms

Hocking said.

Regards,