Grassley Investigates Lilly/WebMD link Reported by Washington Post

Five others suicides occurred during Cymbalta clinical trials, said the FDA and twice the rate of suicide attempts were seen in women prescribed the drug for stress urinary incontinence--also patients with no depression to blame.

Others remember Cymbalta as the drug Carol Anne Gotbaum, daughter-in-law of New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, was taking during her macabre death in police custody at the Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport in 2007.

But now Lilly and WebMD are pushing Cymbalta for pain since it was approved for fibromyalgia in 2008. "Across cultures, patients who complain of pain tend to be depressed," says the 2002 article which calls WebMD and Lilly partners, a finding from a "huge international study by Prozac manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company."

"Could your muscle aches be related to depression?" hawks WebMD text under the heading, "Recognizing the Symptoms of Depression." Next to it is a picture of a depressed women with arrows pointing to the pain in her head and neck, chest and stomach, arms and hands, legs and feet and of course back.

"Print out this symptom diary, and fill it out. Then take it to your doctor to discuss what may be causing your symptoms."

This content, we're told, is "selected and controlled by WebMD's editorial staff" but "funded by Lilly USA."

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