Lilly and Cash

Pharmalot has a very interesting post regarding how Lilly disseminates cash to various organizations. The largest recent recipient was Massachusetts General Hospital, which by sheer coincidence (?), is where Mauricio Tohen, the lead scientist on the Zyprexa team happens to hang his hat (See update below!). In the first quarter of this year, Lilly doled out over a half million dollars to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. This should come as no surprise, given that a few years ago, the head of NAMI was a Lilly executive "on loan" from Lilly. So it comes as no surprise that NAMI often finds itself issuing talking points that coincide nicely with Lilly's goals, such as lobbying against restricting Zyprexa usage. Much more over at Pharmalot and the Wall Street Journal (registration required).

UPDATE: I made an error. I thought that Dr. Tohen held an academic appointment at Mass General -- I was mistaken -- he holds no such appointment. I sincerely apologize for the mistake. Mea culpa. Rather than delete the offending text and leave the impression I am trying to cover my mistake, I will leave it above so that my error can be recognized publicly.

Scouts: Seroquel Plays Better on Turf

According to Pharmalot, AstraZeneca's antipsychotic (and, perhaps, anti-everything else) Seroquel may be moving towards being astroturfed, via the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

NAMI's press release on the topic states

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) will significantly expand its support group program for people with mental illnesses to all 50 states and Puerto Rico by 2009, thanks to an exclusive multi-year partnership with AstraZeneca, LP.

Hey, maybe AZ is just doling out goodwill money, but I tend to think this is the following
a) Great PR for AZ
b) A chance to get more people introduced to the wonders of Seroquel

I suppose we'll find out. More on astroturfing here.

Hat tip to PharmaGossip.