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"Sat Jan 28, 2006 02:23 AM ET NEW YORK, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk A/S (NOVOb.CO: Quote, Profile, Research) sales representatives paid at least one pharmacist for a major drugstore chain to encourage switches from competitor Eli Lilly & Co.'s (LLY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) products, or from its own lower-priced versions to higher-priced ones, The New York Times reported on Saturday. Citing documents it obtained as well as former and present company officials, the Times said Novo may have crossed a line in its zeal to compete with Lilly in capturing the lucrative insulin market in the United States."
Yeah, because how dare they cross the line of sending physicians to $50 a plate steak dinners every week and providing lunch to the whole clinic staff and giving physicians $200 for completing a 20 minute survey and giving research grants to physicians who tow the company line at scientific conference symposia. Those practices are all on the up and up, of course. If only the public knew just how much money changes hands "indirectly" from the drug company to physicians (and clinical pharmacists) in academia they would puke.
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