Healthy Skepticism Library item: 13616
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
Perrone M.
Drug companies defend TV advertisements before Congress
Associated Press 2008 May 8
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/05/08/ap4986278.html?partner=alerts
Full text:
WASHINGTON – Some of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies defended their TV advertisements Thursday from Democrats calling for tougher restrictions on what they call misleading marketing.
Executives from Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson and a joint venture between Merck and Schering Plough will testify before House lawmakers on three discontinued advertisements. All three promotions were criticized by Democrats on a House committee as potentially misleading consumers.
A senior vice president for Merck and Schering’s joint venture stated in prepared testimony that advertisements for the cholesterol pill Vytorin “only made claims that are supported by research.” Senior Vice President Deepak Khanna’s testimony also stated that the Food and Drug Administration cleared all the claims made in the promotions.
The colorful advertisements, dubbed the “food and family” campaign, told viewers bad cholesterol can be caused by diet as well as family history. The promotions ran in heavy rotation beginning in 2004 and helped push Vytorin sales to more than $5.1 billion last year.
Democrats have stepped up their scrutiny of prescription drug companies in recent months after revelations that Merck and Schering Plough’s Vytorin is no better at stopping deadly plaque build-up than a low-cost generic.
The study was completed in 2006 but the companies didn’t release the information until January, after Congress began investigating the delayed trial.
Merck and Schering pulled the spots after releasing the disappointing study results.
The Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s subcommittee for oversight said new restrictions may be needed to “protect American consumers from manipulative commercials.”
Last year Democrats tried unsuccessfully to pass a law that would ban consumer-directed advertisements during the first three years after a drug’s approval. They are expected to make a similar push later this year.
