BBC NEWS:
June 26, 2006
Top European pharmaceutical firms are using unscrupulous marketing practices to promote their products, a consumer report says.
The Consumers International lobby group accused drugmakers of using the methods to get doctors to prescribe products and persuade consumers they need them.
It said there was a "shocking" lack of publicity about where the $60bn (£33bn) annual marketing spend went.
Drug firms say that they act within strict guidelines.
The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) told the BBC News website that for UK-based firms there was "a stringent and transparent code of practice that goes beyond the requirements of UK law and the industry regulator".
Sponsorships
Consumers International said it had analysed the selling techniques of many leading companies, including Bayer, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson.
"The current regulatory framework is clearly insufficient to prevent systemic violations of marketing regulations"
Consumers International
Richard Lloyd, the group's director general, said: "The pharmaceutical industry spends nearly twice as much on marketing as it does on research and development, yet consumers know next to nothing about where this money is going."
He called for a revision of marketing regulations to achieve "more transparency from drug companies".
In most Western markets direct advertising to consumers is banned.
But Mr Lloyd said there were other methods drug companies were using to influence opinion.
These include the sponsoring of patient lobby groups, funding disease awareness campaigns and use of hospitality packages for medical experts.
"As producers of life-saving medicines it is important that we ensure doctors know full details"
ABPI
The report cites sponsorships by such firms as Eli Lilly and Pfizer. The latter, the maker of Viagra, sponsored a campaign by the Impotence Association which sported the Pfizer logo.
The report said only one of the firms studied, Orion Pharma, provided specific marketing budget information.
It also pointed to the "large numbers of serious, recent and repeated breaches of marketing codes".
This showed the "current regulatory framework is clearly insufficient to prevent systemic violations of marketing regulations".
However, the ABPI said the number of complaints raised showed the system, which had been strengthened this year, was working.
It said complaints from drug companies about fellow firms' activities showed the self-regulation was effective.
But it also said it was vital for doctors to know about products.
"There is no point having innovative new medicines if they remain unused," an association spokesman said.
© BBC MMVI
Consumers International, a consumer group based in London, recently issued a report that called on governments to rein in the pharmaceutical industry and demand an end to what they claim are unscrupulous marketing practices. They also claim that the pharmaceutical industry spends nearly twice as much on marketing drugs as it does on research and development. Simply stated, when it comes to the U.S. market, the group is way off base.
I took zyprexa which was ineffective for my condition and gave me diabetes.
{Only 9 percent of adult Americans think the pharmaceutical industry can be trusted right around the same rating as big tobacco}
Zyprexa, which is used for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, accounted for 32% of Eli Lilly's $14.6 billion revenue last year.
Zyprexa is the product name for Olanzapine,it is Lilly's top selling drug.It was approved by the FDA in 1996 ,an 'atypical' antipsychotic a newer class of drugs without the motor side effects of the older Thorazine.Zyprexa has been linked to causing diabetes and pancreatitis.
Did you know that Lilly made nearly $3 billion last year on diabetic meds, Actos,Humulin and Byetta?
Yes! They sell a drug that causes diabetes and then turn a profit on the drugs that treat the condition that they caused in the first place!
I was prescribed Zyprexa from 1996 until 2000.
In early 2000 i was shocked to have an A1C test result of 13.9 (normal is 4-6) I have no history of diabetes in my family.
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Daniel Haszard http://www.zyprexa-victims.com
Consumers International, a consumer group based in London, recently issued a report that called on governments to rein in the pharmaceutical industry and demand an end to what they claim are unscrupulous marketing practices. They also claim that the pharmaceutical industry spends nearly twice as much on marketing drugs as it does on research and development. Simply stated, when it comes to the U.S. market, the group is way off base.
First of all, according to Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry association, in 2003, its members alone spent $33 billion on R&D, 23 percent more than the whole industry spent on promotional activities that year. Moreover, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) strictly regulates the industry’s marketing activities, overseeing all promotions and communications with doctors and patients. Any company not in compliance is subject to penalty.
Consumers International seems to miss the point about pharmaceutical marketing. In reality, the best pharmaceutical marketing activities educate patients and consumers on state-of-the-art approaches to managing disease. Other methods, such as relationship marketing, emphasize building long-term relationships with customers rather than on individual transactions. It involves understanding the customers' needs as they go through life, providing a range of products or services as they need them. This is hardly a bad thing.
Marketing efforts do indeed come with a hefty price tag, but the result is often the profit that feeds further research. Keep in mind, pharmaceutical innovation is a high-risk, high-return proposition. To get one new drug on the market requires the screening of 10,000 potential agents. The time window from discovery to approval is 12 years on average. And, with a 17-year patent in place, that means the company will have as little as five years to make its 12-year investment pay off. That investment will involve thousands of patients treated and assessed to ensure that the product’s safety and efficacy are acceptable. The studies needed to do this cost hundreds of millions of dollars and will carry a high risk of failure along the way.
In contrast to what the authors of the report claim, there is sufficient transparency, not to mention a very strong disincentive to “play games,” when it comes to marketing pharmaceuticals. Today, the industry is compelled to work closely with the FDA to ensure compliance with increasingly rigorous marketing regulations. Penalties range from making changes to certain communications to more severe actions that can disrupt a company’s operations. The Office of the Investigator General (OIG) has added to the scrutiny over the last several years. Both FDA and OIG oversight has resulted in courts imposing high fines, and even jail sentences, on companies and individuals found in violation.
There is a bigger issue here that should be discussed. The dynamics taking place in the pharmaceutical industry are, pardon the pun, unhealthy, but it has nothing to do with their marketing activities. The pharmaceutical industry has been identified on multiple fronts as an easy target. Companies are routinely criticized as biased in their promotional communications, excessive in their pricing, and under-committed in their investment in R&D. Unfortunately, those individuals and groups that complain fail to acknowledge the efforts many pharmaceutical companies are making to improve ethical standards, not to mention improve health and save lives.
While R&D and the drug development pipeline are of paramount importance to pharmaceutical companies, they are compelled to spread the word when they possess an effective, and often life-saving, product. And, yes, this takes an enormous financial commitment. These are not reasons to be maligned.
Ultimately, pharmaceutical marketing is nearly as important as the drug development process in that it brings about awareness of new disease therapies and treatments. The vast majority of pharmaceutical companies operate on an ethical level with a desire to make their therapies more available. They are committed to doing what's best, not only for their business's profitability, but for the well-being of their patients.
Michael White is the founder and president of PharmaKinnex, a New Jersey-based marketing services company that provides cost-effective, brand specific multi-channel marketing and sales support to pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical organizations.