Saturday, October 28, 2006

Jane Pauley: Unwitting Spokesperson for Lilly?

Apparently Jane Pauely though her story might be run under mental health issues, not infomercials for Lilly and others. How low will they go? From the Smoking Gun:

"OCTOBER 25--Claiming that The New York Times duped her into granting an interview for what turned out to be a drug company-funded advertising supplement, Jane Pauley has sued the newspaper for fraud. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, the 55-year-old broadcaster charges that she believed that the Times interview was for a news article on mental health issues, but that the story (accompanied by a full-page photo) ran in an October 2005 "special advertising supplement" promoting psychotherapeutic drugs sold by Eli Lilly and other pharmaceutical firms. Pauley, who in September 2004 disclosed her battle with bipolar disorder, alleges that the Times "duped" her into lending her name to its advertising gambit, according to the lawsuit, an excerpt of which you'll find below. After going public about her bipolar disorder, the lawsuit notes, Pauley has worked with several mental health advocacy groups, including the National Mental Health Association. Pauley's lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from the newspaper and DeWitt Publishing, which helped arrange the advertorial"

Link here. Hat tip: PsychCentral.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this story about Jane's case.

Big pharma should rebuild it's public image.Recent survey shows only about 9% of Americans trust them,this is the same rating as the tobacco companies.

Hey,they have an estimated 90,000 drug reps in the USA promoting to doctors.Enough is enough!
Eli Lilly has a rich humanitarian history,but if you do a blog search of "Eli Lilly and "zyprexa (their blockbuster) keywords you will find much negative blogging.

Some of it is from claimants of their Zyprexa settlement like myself who developed complications and are still awaiting promised resolution.
---
Daniel Haszard Bangor Maine

CL Psych said...

They're trying to rebuild their image, but it will take more than PR!