Off Label Prescribing Of Prescription Drugs

The Off Label Prescribing Of Prescription Drugs refers to where doctors prescribe medicines for uses beyond which the manufacturer has approval from government regulators to promote it for.

In March 2006 Dr. Peter Gleason, a Maryland psychiatrist, was arrested by the FBI at a Long Island train station and later charged for promoting off-label use of Xyrem, a prescription drug manufactured by Jazz Pharmaceuticals. The New York Times reports that federal prosecutors allege that "at hundreds of speeches and seminars where he was rewarded with generous fees, Dr. Gleason advised other physicians that a powerful drug for narcolepsy could be prescribed for depression and pain relief. In doing so, he conspired with the drug’s manufacturer to recommend it for potentially dangerous uses the prosecutors claim." Gleason admits that he was paid over $100,000 last year alone from Jazz Pharmaceuticals. Gleason, who was released on bail, argues that he was only charged after he refused to help build a case against the drug company which, New York Times reporter Alex Beremson writes, "court documents seem to support." [1]

External links

• Evelyn Pringle, "Off-label prescribing of prescription drugs: Profits for big pharma and risk to patients: Part One", Online Journal Contributing Writer, May 30, 2006.
• Alex Berensow, "Indictment of Doctor Tests Drug Marketing Rules", New York Times, July 22, 2006.

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