Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15697
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
Rout M.
Vioxx sales team inspired by Men In Black
The Australian 2009 May 27
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25544156-23289,00.html
Full text:
AUSTRALIAN sales staff at Merck were trained to deal with concerns doctors had over its blockbuster drug Vioxx and possible increased risks of heart attacks at a national sales conference with a Men in Black movie theme.
The Federal Court heard yesterday that staff were given training material in the form of “secret dossiers” from the fictitious “Intergalactic Training Academy” at the conference at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt in February 2003.
Documents tendered to a class action reveal the conference — which could have cost as much as $40,000 — included workshops on how to overcome doctors’ “objections” on cardiovascular concerns over Vioxx, as well as another planned session provisionally titled “Alien Attack”.
US pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co and its Australian subsidiary, Merck, Sharp and Dohme, are being sued by more than 1000 Australians led by Graeme Peterson, who alleges the anti-arthritis drug contributed to his heart attack in December 2003.
Mr Peterson claims the company knew about the cardiovascular risks of Vioxx and played them down long before it voluntarily recalled the drug in September 2004. Merck is fighting the class action, claiming it did nothing wrong.
Merck, Sharp and Dohme senior sales manager Keiran McAuley said in his witness statement, tendered to the court yesterday, that it was not uncommon in the industry to conduct themed conferences.
He said they created light-heartened themes to make “relatively dry material more engaging”.
“The theme of the national sales conference was Men in Black, following the film of that name,” he said. “The theme was a way to try and make the training more interesting for the representatives. Each representative was provided with workshop-related materials in a form of a secret dossier from the fictitious ‘Intergalactic Training Academy’.”
Mr McAuley said the original name of the cardiovascular objections training workshop — “Mycardio Infarction (Heart Attacks) Bollocks” — was chosen to fit in with the “MIB” theme of the program.
Internal emails previously tendered on behalf of the plaintiff showed sales staff decided to change the workshop name to “CV and Renal Objections 101” because it “could cause some raised eyebrows from above”. The email also detailed two other workshops for sales staff, including one called “Alien Attack”.
Mr McAuley, under cross-examination by lawyers for the plaintiff, said he could not recall whether he objected to the proposed title of the workshop or knew the reason behind its name change.
He also said the term “objections handler” could be misconstrued by those unfamiliar with its use in the industry. He said it enabled sales staff to respond “appropriately and accurately” to any issues raised by doctors.
