Side Effects: Death. Confessions of a Pharma-Insider [Paperback]

John Virapen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

"I bribed a Swedish professor to enhance the registration of Prozac in Sweden." -John Virapen Pharmaceutical companies want to keep people sick. They want to make others think that they are sick. And they do this for one reason: money. Did you know: * Pharmaceutical companies invest more than 35,000 Euro (over $50,000) per physician each year to get them to prescribe their products? * More than 75 percent of leading scientists in the field of medicine are "paid for" by the pharmaceutical industry? * Corruption prevailed in the approval and marketing of drugs in some cases? * Illnesses are made up by the pharmaceutical industry and specifically marketed to enhance sales and market shares for the companies in question? * Pharmaceutical companies increasingly target children? "Side Effects: Death" is the true story of corruption, bribery and fraud written by Dr. John Virapen, who has been called THE Big Pharma Insider. During his 35 years in the pharmaceutical industry internationally (most notably as general manager of Eli Lilly and Company in Sweden), Virapen was responsible for the marketing of several drugs, all of them with side effects. Now, Virapen is coming clean and telling all of the little secrets you were never intended to know! For more information, go to www.sideeffectsdeath.com

Product Details

• Paperback: 252 pages
• Publisher: Virtualbookworm.com Publishing (February 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1602645167
• ISBN-13: 978-1602645165
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #222,995 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

  #61 in

  Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > Psychopharmacology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book, May 10, 2010

By	Paul Lappen (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Side Effects: Death. Confessions of a Pharma-Insider (Paperback)

This book, written by a pharmaceutical industry insider, exposes many of the secrets that led to drugs with major side effects, like Prozac, to be approved and widely prescribed.

Born in Guyana (northeast South America) to Indian parents, Virapen found himself, in the 1960s, in Europe, hungry and homeless. He went to Sweden, to live with a woman he met in his travels. It was there that he got a job as a sales representative for Eli Lilly and Co. He visited local physicians, bringing them small gifts and other things and generally encouraging them to prescribe Eli Lilly drugs. He rose quickly through the ranks, eventually running the entire operation in Sweden. Virapen was very involved in getting drugs like Prozac approved, with a corresponding rise in the gifts given to doctors. They now ranged from expensive "scientific conferences" in exotic places to brothel visits, to outright bribery. This book is an attempt to atone for what he has done in the drug industry.

Virapen spends much of the book talking about Prozac. The drug industry has no problems with creating "diseases" like ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), to get otherwise healthy people to think that they are sick, and need a pill (an expensive pill, of course). If a clinical trial is not going well; for instance, if Drug X works just as well as Prozac, a drug company can stop the trial, and switch Drug X with another drug against which Prozac works really well. There is no obligation to tell the Food and Drug Administration, or any of its foreign counterparts, about this. Clinical trials on psychotropic drugs, like Prozac, last a couple of months, at the most. There has been no attempt to study the effects of such drugs over years.

When it came time to get Prozac approved in Sweden, the information supplied by Eli Lilly was to be evaluated by an independent doctor, who would send his recommendation to the national authorities. Virapen's job was to figure out who that doctor would be and find out what it would take to get that doctor to give a favorable opinion. Unfortunately, that doctor was very willing to be bribed, even helping Eli Lilly to write the report the "right" way. Virapen mentions case after case of normal, well-adjusted people who, after taking Prozac for a very short time, kill other people or themselves.

On the positive side, this is a very interesting book that shows the lengths to which drug companies will go to create new markets for their drugs. On the negative side, if there are to be future printings of this book, it really needs a trip, or another trip, to a copyeditor or proofreader.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very well done, John!, February 18, 2010

By	Ilse V. (Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Side Effects: Death. Confessions of a Pharma-Insider (Paperback)

This is a great book, that totally matches what I experienced and covers the things I did not know about yet, but somehow suspected. It clearly shows the "business" that's behind the exploded use of "legal drugs" in the last few decades. I realize that some things may seem "unbelievable", yet I know he's writing the truth...

The way the book is built up, is also interesting: First part gets one into the flavour of the book by picturing the background of the author. The second part is factual, the chilling truth. The pieces of the puzzle fall into place as you read the whole book. As one reads on, there is also a fair chance one suddenly recognizes things in one's own environment which were indicators of what the author describes...

I'd advise anyone that wants to live a long and happy, truthful life, to read this book and use the gained knowledge to enhance survival of oneself and those that are dear to one!

5.0 out of 5 stars John, thank you., July 27, 2010

By	Anna Morgan (South Carolina) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Side Effects: Death. Confessions of a Pharma-Insider (Paperback)

My mother was given samples of a medication that was taken off the market. Thank God that she never took that poison. Most people trust their health care providers, and receive everything from them as the gospel truth.It is very sad that there are so many amoral people who make decisions to kill and harm others all for money. The sad part is that you do not have to be unethical, dishonorable,unscrupulous or immoral to make a profit. I will buy more copies of this book and give them to family and friends. Thank you John, for writing this book.