Since returning from Mayo Clinic and the annual WomenHeart Science & Leadership Symposium for Women with Heart Disease last fall, I’ve done a number of public presentations on the subject of heart disease - the #1 killer of women in North America. My talks are pretty well all the same. When I tell the story of my own heart attack, it never changes. When I talk about risk factors for developing heart disease, it’s always the same list. When I discuss surprising symptoms and signs that you might be having a heart attack – well, you get my drift.
This is a normal public speaking reality for those who have a specific message to deliver or a unique area of expertise to share. Same talk, same slides, different audiences. Just ask psychiatrist Dr. Manoj Waikar, adjunct professor at Stanford University, who moonlights as a public speaker for the largest American psychiatric drug maker, Eli Lilly.
The company has been in the news since the FDA issued a warning to the 7 million diabetics who take its drug Byetta, after its use was found to threaten kidney function. And in January 2009, Lilly pleaded guilty in court and paid $1.42 billion (yes, that’s ‘billion’ with a B) in fines and penalties to settle charges that it had for at least four years illegally marketed Zyprexa, a drug approved for the treatment of schizophrenia, as a remedy for dementia in elderly patients. (In fact, in the past five year, Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers Squibb and four other drug companies have paid a total of $7 billion in fines and penalties. Six of the seven companies admitted in court that they marketed medicines for unapproved uses).
But I digress. Last year, Eli Lilly paid Dr. Waikar to give 51 talks to his fellow physicians – week in, week out, all year long at $1,500 a pop. That’s $75,000 a year. Just show up for an hour, and the drug company cheque is in the mail.
Oh, wait. That’s the difference between my presentations about women’s heart disease and Dr. Waikar’s presentations shilling Eli Lilly drugs like Zyprexa and Cimbalta: I volunteer to do my talks for free, and he doesn’t. Continue reading
