SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Big Pharma Gets its Hooks into Seton Hall Law School
For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has marinated the medical profession in millions of dollars of free samples, lunches, trips, and fees.The goal -- influence, power, profits.
Now, the industry has another target -- the legal profession.
May 02, 2007
For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has marinated the medical profession in millions of dollars of free samples, lunches, trips, and fees.The goal -- influence, power, profits.
Now, the industry has another target -- the legal profession.
Last week, industry leaders Schering-Plough Corporation, sanofi-aventis, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb and the pharma law firm Gibbons PC -- announced that they will donate a total of $9.1 million to establish the Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey.
"This is what they have been doing with doctors for the last five decades -- shaping young doctors' minds," said Peter Rost, a former vice president at Pfizer and author of The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman (Soft Skull Press, 2006). "Now they want to shape the minds of young lawyers."
"I would imagine that the drug industry feels that the legal environment has been challenging -- with prosecutions and False Claims Act cases proliferating," Rost said. "I'm sure they hope that they can have an impact on things. They are not doing this to be nice. They are doing it because it is in their interest. They are making friends, trying to start being proactive about what happens -- get involved from the beginning."
A spokesperson for Seton Hall Law School, Kathleen Eagan, said she could not provide anyone for an interview about the project -- although last week, the Law School did distribute a press release and held a press conference about the donations.
Bristol Myers Squibb's contribution -- $5 million -- grew out of a June 2005 deferred prosecution agreement cut with the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey -- Christopher Christie -- a Seton Hall Law School graduate.
Christie has been harshly criticized for directing the funds to his alma mater.
But he says that the idea came from the lawyer representing Bristol Myers Squibb and that his office only required that a business ethics chair be endowed at a New Jersey law school.
Lo and behold, Rutgers University School of Law already had a business ethics chair -- endowed by Prudential.
Christie says that Bristol Myers was required to endow the chair in an effort to "change the corporate culture."
How?
"The professor occupying that endowed chair is required to conduct an annual ethics seminar for Bristol-Myers management and other interested industry members," Christie said last year.
(c) 2007 Corporate Crime Reporter.com
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has marinated the medical profession in millions of dollars of free samples, lunches, trips, and fees.The goal -- influence, power, profits.
Now, the industry has another target -- the legal profession.
Last week, industry leaders Schering-Plough Corporation, sanofi-aventis, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb and the pharma law firm Gibbons PC -- announced that they will donate a total of $9.1 million to establish the Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey.
"This is what they have been doing with doctors for the last five decades -- shaping young doctors' minds," said Peter Rost, a former vice president at Pfizer and author of The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman (Soft Skull Press, 2006). "Now they want to shape the minds of young lawyers."
"I would imagine that the drug industry feels that the legal environment has been challenging -- with prosecutions and False Claims Act cases proliferating," Rost said. "I'm sure they hope that they can have an impact on things. They are not doing this to be nice. They are doing it because it is in their interest. They are making friends, trying to start being proactive about what happens -- get involved from the beginning."
A spokesperson for Seton Hall Law School, Kathleen Eagan, said she could not provide anyone for an interview about the project -- although last week, the Law School did distribute a press release and held a press conference about the donations.
Bristol Myers Squibb's contribution -- $5 million -- grew out of a June 2005 deferred prosecution agreement cut with the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey -- Christopher Christie -- a Seton Hall Law School graduate.
Christie has been harshly criticized for directing the funds to his alma mater.
But he says that the idea came from the lawyer representing Bristol Myers Squibb and that his office only required that a business ethics chair be endowed at a New Jersey law school.
Lo and behold, Rutgers University School of Law already had a business ethics chair -- endowed by Prudential.
Christie says that Bristol Myers was required to endow the chair in an effort to "change the corporate culture."
How?
"The professor occupying that endowed chair is required to conduct an annual ethics seminar for Bristol-Myers management and other interested industry members," Christie said last year.
(c) 2007 Corporate Crime Reporter.com
Russell Mokhiber
Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter. He is also founder of singlepayeraction.org, and editor of the website Morgan County USA.
For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has marinated the medical profession in millions of dollars of free samples, lunches, trips, and fees.The goal -- influence, power, profits.
Now, the industry has another target -- the legal profession.
Last week, industry leaders Schering-Plough Corporation, sanofi-aventis, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb and the pharma law firm Gibbons PC -- announced that they will donate a total of $9.1 million to establish the Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey.
"This is what they have been doing with doctors for the last five decades -- shaping young doctors' minds," said Peter Rost, a former vice president at Pfizer and author of The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman (Soft Skull Press, 2006). "Now they want to shape the minds of young lawyers."
"I would imagine that the drug industry feels that the legal environment has been challenging -- with prosecutions and False Claims Act cases proliferating," Rost said. "I'm sure they hope that they can have an impact on things. They are not doing this to be nice. They are doing it because it is in their interest. They are making friends, trying to start being proactive about what happens -- get involved from the beginning."
A spokesperson for Seton Hall Law School, Kathleen Eagan, said she could not provide anyone for an interview about the project -- although last week, the Law School did distribute a press release and held a press conference about the donations.
Bristol Myers Squibb's contribution -- $5 million -- grew out of a June 2005 deferred prosecution agreement cut with the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey -- Christopher Christie -- a Seton Hall Law School graduate.
Christie has been harshly criticized for directing the funds to his alma mater.
But he says that the idea came from the lawyer representing Bristol Myers Squibb and that his office only required that a business ethics chair be endowed at a New Jersey law school.
Lo and behold, Rutgers University School of Law already had a business ethics chair -- endowed by Prudential.
Christie says that Bristol Myers was required to endow the chair in an effort to "change the corporate culture."
How?
"The professor occupying that endowed chair is required to conduct an annual ethics seminar for Bristol-Myers management and other interested industry members," Christie said last year.
(c) 2007 Corporate Crime Reporter.com
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.