The $64,000,000 Million Dollar Questions

Is Steven Lieberman (spelled Stephen in the transcript below of the Congressional Imclone hearing) who represented the FDA’s Richard Pazdur as his personal attorney at the Imclone Hearing, the same Steven Lieberman who now represents the Goldbergs and The Cancer Letter?

I could only find one attorney Steven (Stephen) Lieberman in the Washington DC, Maryland area.

What does it mean that Pazdur’s attorney, is the same attorney who now represents both the Goldbergs and Richard Pazdur?

According to the ImClone transcript, all of the FDA officials at the Imclone trial were represented by FDA General Counsel except for Dr. Richard Pazdur who used his personal attorney Steven Lieberman instead. (see transcript below)

Will some of the Congressmen at the last Congressional hearing that grilled Pazdur, face off with him again if we get a Congressional Hearing to look into the Provenge debacle?

Christopher Cox of the SEC was at the Imclone hearing. Will he be at the Provenge hearing?

In considering that the Cancer Letter published the three letters, Ed Silverman of Pharmalot stated that the Goldbergs were claiming journalistic privilege. According to the journalistic code of ethics, a true journalist presents both sides of the story. Paul Goldberg presented only one side when he presented the three “leaked” letters. He never approached the 13 experts who voted Provenge shows subtantial evidence of efficacy.

Is Paul Goldberg Pazdur’s lapdog? He agreed 100% with the alleged authors of the letters. He didn’t question them. He didn’t question the source. He didn’t question the reason. He offered no counter view. Can the Goldbergs really claim journalistic privilege?

Would other journalists publish the letters just as they were sent or would they have asked some questions? Ed Silverman, would you have “leaked” the letters without asking questions? Matthew Herper at Forbes? What about you Marilyn Chase of the Wall Street Journal Online? Rob Stein at the Washington Post? (leaked letters available on our CTL research page compliments Freedom of Information. Otherwise you had to be a subscriber for hundreds of dollars to the Cancer Letter to legally view them).
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Evidence points to Richard Pazdur, head of ODAC and CDER at the FDA, as being behind the three letter’s “leaked” into Goldberg’s The Cancer Letter, which were then used as the lame excuse to delay Provenge, a prostate cancer immunotherapy voted 17 to 0 unanimously safe and 13 to 4 substantial evidence of efficacy, by an advisory panel of experts picked by the FDA, to review the Provenge Biologics License Application. One should throw out the 2 naysayer votes who had severe disclosed and undisclosed conflicts of interest.

I heard Dr. Pazdur is leaving his current division at the FDA and may head up the safety division. If that happens we caution everyone to fasten their seatbelts. He is incompetent to handle this division. He has failed miserably in that capacity by failing to approve safe drugs while approving toxins. His Provenge delay in effect sentenced 30,000 American men to die of terminal pc this year without any viable alternatives. Since he derailed approval 7 months ago 18,000 men have died. Our CareToLive member, John Fish, passed away yesterday morning from terminal PC without ever having the benefit of taking Provenge. We are all very saddened about it and our hearts go out to his wife Marilyn. John wanted so much to take Provenge but was denied the opportunity to fight for his life.

We know definitively that Pazdur was behind the “leaked” letter to the same Goldberg’s The Cancer Letter that helped send Sam Waksal to prison for insider trading (where he still languishes), despite the fact that Waksal, who was the CEO of Imclone which developed Erbitux, was subsequently approved by the FDA, helping millions with cancer. Martha Stewart ended up in jail for obstruction of justice, and Pazdur stayed above the fray despite his shenanigans in denying the Erbitux license submittal and later approving Erbitux with no additional trial information ever submitted, based on the same trial information he used to deny the application in the first place.

It surely looks like Pazdur is at it again. Five years later, we are again treated to the FDA “leaking” three letters from doctors vehemently opposing the approval of Dendreon’s Provenge. So now there may be a Congressional Hearing due to severe conflicts of interests regarding why approval was delayed. Pazdur most likely will receive a subpoena and have to testify before Congress again. Let’s hope he is not given a free pass this time to continue with his agenda to aid and abet his friends in high places.
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Pazdur was called before a Congressional Hearing a few years ago over the Imclone shenanigans. Here is the transcript of that hearing. (click link)
Below is the Imclone portion of the transcript where Pazdur states his attorney is Steven Lieberman.

Mr. Greenwood (Chairman):
Thank you all for your presence, and I thank you all for
your forbearance and patience. You are aware that this is an
investigative hearing, and that it is the practice of this
subcommittee when holding such hearings to take testimony under
oath. Do any of you object to giving your testimony under oath?

[No response.]

Mr. Greenwood. You are also aware that you are entitled
pursuant to the rules of the House and this committee to be
represented by counsel. Do any of you wish to be represented by
counsel?

Mr. Pazdur. Yes. I have my personal lawyer, Stephen
Lieberman.

Mr. Greenwood. Stephen Lieberman is with you?

Mr. Pazdur. Yes.

Mr. Greenwood. Very well. Anyone else? Yes, Dr. Keegan?

Ms. Keegan. I am represented by the FDA General Counsel.

Mr. Greenwood. You are represented by the FDA General
Counsel?

Ms. Keegan. Yes.

Mr. Greenwood. Dr. Jerian.

Ms. Jerian. I am represented by the FDA General Counsel.

Mr. Greenwood. Okay. Anyone else?

Mr. Mills. Dr. Mills, FDA General Counsel.

Mr. Greenwood. And could you name the General Counsel for
us that is representing all of you?

Ms. Keegan. Michael Landa.

Mr. Greenwood. The Chair would note that each of you is
here under subpoena. The Chair would also note that it what we
call a friendly subpoena, and that we felt that it was
important to issue to protect any legal concerns that might
come from your rules and regulations with regard to
confidentiality. Would you please all rise and raise your right
hand.

[Witnesses sworn.]

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Congressmen Mike Michaud of Maine, Dan Burton of Indiana, and Tim Ryan of Ohio are asking for a congressional hearing into what happened. We must continue to be vigilant and to contact our representatives in the Congress to keep the pressure on, and to demand a congressional hearing.
CONGRESSIONAL LETTER ASKING FOR A HEARING  PDF (click here) Please fax this letter to your own congressional representatives and ask them to join this action. TIA

An Easy Way To Contact Your Elected Officials - (click here) EVERY VOICE COUNTS!

Here are the members of the Congressional subcommittee that would take up the investigation and institute a hearing. Please let them know that you want to get to the bottom of what went terribly wrong with the Provenge approval process. What about the conflicted naysayers and the “leakers”? What about the 18,000 men who have died since approval was delayed? Please use this link to email the subcommitte at. You may also fax them at 202-225-2525. Thanks.
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Petition for the FDA to Reconsider the Failure to Approve Provenge (link)
Please tell the FDA what you really think about the delay of Provenge
Please Post Comments to Above Petition for FDA Reconsideration of Provenge (click link)
Post any thoughts in support, or comments plus any attachments you would like to include that might help our cause. You may also mail a copy to: Lyle D. Jaffe, Division of Dockets Management, Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061 (HFA-305), Rockville, MD, 20852

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Comments welcome. All opinions expressed are imo only. Corrections are welcome.

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Tags: , Care To Live, CareToLive, Christopher Cox, congressional hearing, Ed Silverman, Erbitux, FDA, Forbes, imclone, Kirsten Goldberg, Martha Stewart, Paul Goldberg, Pharmalot, Prostate Cancer, Richard Pazdur, Stephen Lieberman, Steven Lieberman, The Cancer Letter

This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 7:12 am and is filed under The Cause, The Dysfunctional FDA, The Lawsuit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.