January 17th, 2008
The big pharma credibility gap
Whenever I visit my family doctor the candyman is there.
The candyman is my nickname for my doctor’s drug rep, or “detail man.” His candy consists of samples. Sometimes, if my symptoms are right, I get some.
Candymen may have more to do with your medical visit than you think. One Georgetown study showed just three minutes with your doctor can increase prescriptions for what the rep is selling by 52%.
Since the Vioxx disaster there has been a backlash. States are hiring their own reps, to tout generics. New sites like Pharmedout are telling doctors to turn the candymen (and candywomen) out.
For the industry this particular problem is manageable. But it seems there’s a perfect storm developing, a host of news stories aimed at the industry’s credibility:
- Cold medicines are too risky for children under 2, and may be discouraged for those under 12.
- Medical journals are ignoring negative studies on drugs, while publishing lots of positive ones.
- An important study casting doubt on Zetia, a cholesterol drug, was delayed for years while companies sold billions of dollars worth of the stuff.
- Some of the industry’s hottest new cures are being called, well, fiction. Fiction in that the disease they pretend to cure may not exist.
- Oxfam says the industry’s entire business model is failing, as it tries to find new “blockbuster” patents like Lipitor and ignores the big money in spreading generics worldwide.
- The European Union raided pharmaceutical offices this morning, suspecting antitrust violations, i.e. a rigged market.
How bad is it? Why yesterday on Good Morning America I watched Diane Sawyer grill Dr. Robert Jarvik, the artificial heart inventor now pushing Lipitor, like he was the man from BALCO.
The term that comes to mind is 40 years old — credibility gap. How big do you think it is?
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Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist since 1978, and has covered technology since 1982. He launched the Interactive Age Daily, the first daily coverage of the Internet to launch with a magazine, in September 1994. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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