From the Popular Press: What Your Patients are Reading

Biotechnology company Amgen Inc is being investigated by New Jersey's attorney general after two former sales representatives accused Amgen of violating patient confidentiality laws. The sales representatives report being pressured by their managers to access patient data. The sales representatives would use the data to find candidates for treatment of psoriasis with Enbrel®. Enbrel was first approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, and later to treat moderate to severe psoriasis. Due to its high cost, Enbrel did not sell well as a psoriasis treatment, and former employees claim that Amgen resorted to having its representatives access and search doctors' records to find psoriasis patients, to whom they could directly suggest treatment with Enbrel. One of the former employees has provided a voicemail recording and a memo that urged him to search patient records at various medical practices. Amgen has denied the allegations, and is now in arbitration with the two former representatives who made these accusations.

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