Healthy Skepticism Library item: 11839

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Publication type: news

Young J.
Lights, camera, PhRMA
The Hill 2007 Oct 23
http://thehill.com/business--lobby/lights-camera-phrma-2007-10-23.html

Full text:

Montel Williams leaned forward in his chair, lights shining and cameras rolling, and began to relate the story of how it took doctors nearly 20 years to diagnose his multiple sclerosis.

It’s a tale he’s told many times on his talk show, but this time, Montel wasn’t the host. He was the guest of the drug industry, and the host was Billy Tauzin, the former GOP congressman from Louisiana who has headed the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) since 2005.

Buffeted by bad press resulting from the recalls of drugs like Vioxx, public bitterness over high drug prices and angry political rhetoric about the industry’s clout in Washington, the drug industry has sought to shift the emphasis to its role in developing medicines to treat serious and deadly diseases.

PhRMA’s “Healthcare Campfire with Billy Tauzin” is the latest – and possibly boldest – part of a multi-pronged effort to burnish the drug industry’s battered public image. The 30-minute television show, launched last month, airs Sundays at noon on WDCA-TV in Washington. PhRMA hopes to go national by the end of next year.

The episodes, broadcast as paid advertisements but billed as public affairs programs, borrow the format of talk shows such as NBC’s “Today.”

When Tauzin took the helm at PhRMA after retiring from Congress and surviving a bout with cancer, he promised to turn around public opinion about the industry.

During the interview with Tauzin, Williams laid out the message that PhRMA wants the public to hear. Tauzin thanked Williams and his other guest, Telemundo talk show host Mayte Prida, for their work to promote the Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA). Under the program, drug makers offer free or discounted medicines to low-income and uninsured people; it recently signed up its 4 millionth patient. Williams turned that gratitude around toward the drug makers.

“You can say thank you to us, but honestly, it’s a thank you back to you,” said Williams. “Because as much as I love to be able to hang my face on this and say it’s me, it isn’t. We know it’s the pharmaceutical research companies of America that are doing this.”

Tauzin’s interviewees include other well-known figures, such as former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and motivational speaker Sean Swarner, who survived two fights against cancer and has since scaled the world’s tallest mountains.

Hallie Anne Day, a multiple sclerosis patient from Indianapolis, also praised the drug industry prior to her appearance on the show. “If it wasn’t for these companies that make the medication and do the research, there’d be no chance for a cure,” she told The Hill. PhRMA doesn’t pay Day or other patients, but it does cover their travel expenses.

The interview segments are interspersed with reports by PhRMA staff on new medicines under development or other healthcare topics.

“They look like a news story you would see at a local news station,” PhRMA Senior Vice President Ken Johnson said. Johnson had a 20-year career in TV, including stints as a news anchor and director, prior to working for Tauzin on Capitol Hill.

Former professional broadcasters Jeff Gilbert and Ed Belkin narrate these segments, which feature patients, drug company scientists and, once, an official at the National Institutes of Health.

The set looks like one from any other talk show. Tauzin sits in a leather chair facing two matching chairs for the guests. Between them is an electric fireplace with a video screen hanging above the mantel. Bookshelves sit in one corner, while in the other is a mock window with an image of the Capitol behind it.

PhRMA’s desire to take more control over how the drug industry is perceived led to the idea for the TV show.

“He quickly understood the power of being able to take your message directly to people,” Johnson said.

The drug industry’s foray into television is the product of a more than $1 million investment in a state-of-the-art, all-digital, all-high-definition studio and control room that probably rivals most TV stations’. The set is complete with teleprompters and a “green screen,” allowing any image to be digitally added in post-production as a backdrop for interviews.

The group also uses the studio and the booth for media training sessions for its staff and for interviews between broadcasters and PhRMA executives. “There’s such an advantage to being able to go live 24 hours a day, anywhere in the world,” Johnson said.

PhRMA plans to air one new “Healthcare Campfire” each month. Other weeks, the group airs re-runs and a promotional show for the PPA, and it may offer self-produced programming in the future. The group also posts episodes of “Healthcare Campfire” on YouTube.

The group has grand designs for the show. PhRMA is extending its contract with WDCA through the end of next year. By then, it should be on the air in selected state capitals and on national cable.

“Billy’s a natural at this,” Johnson said. On the day of a taping attended by The Hill, Tauzin worked off a teleprompter without having seen the script in advance. There was briefly a problem as crew members tried to position the ex-lawmaker so the flag on the photo of Capitol wasn’t visible (it looked too obviously fake), but Tauzin handled his hosting duties with aplomb.

At the taping, Tauzin showed the Cajun charm that’s one of his trademarks. Greeting Swarner, the mountaineer, before the cameras switched on, Tauzin shook his hand and joked, “Did you take the elevator or did you climb the stairs?”

The TV show isn’t the only part of PhRMA’s self-promotional apparatus. PhRMA’s campaign also includes syndicated weekly radio spots and a network of websites.