Healthy Skepticism Library item: 1768

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

Petersen M.
Suit Says Company Promoted Drug in Exam Rooms
The New York Times 2002 May 15
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12056438

Full text:

Newly unsealed documents reveal that some physicians, in exchange for money, have allowed pharmaceutical sales representatives into their examining rooms to meet with patients, review medical charts and recommend what medicines to prescribe; show some of those salespeople tried to influence doctors to prescribe drugs for uses that were not approved by Food and Drug Administration; whistle-blower case filed by former Warner-Lambert Co employee Dr David P Franklin alleges so-called shadowing program, apparently involving hundreds of patients, is one way that Warner-Lambert tried to increase sales of drug called Neurontin, not just for epilepsy, for which it was approved, but also for more than dozen medical conditions it was never approved to treat; case is subject of criminal and civil investigation by US attorney general’s office in Boston; case details marketing practices that experts say have become standard practice for many pharmaceutical companies as they spend billions of dollar trying to persuade physicians to prescribe their drugs; court documents show Warner-Lambert, which has since been acquired by Pfizer Inc, tracked whether doctors prescribed Neurontin, rewarding those who were considered high-volume prescribers by paying them as speakers and consultants and also paying them to enter patients in clinical trials; Warner-Lambert also tried to influence doctors who wrote medical journal articles about Neurontin by paying them, sometimes secretly, and even hiring marketing company to write first drafts; drug is expected to reach $2 billion in sales this year; Pfizer spokeswoman Mariann Caprino says allegations are six years old and that actions that allegedly occurred took place well before Pfizer completed its merger with Warner-Lambert; adds it is firm and established Pfizer policy not to allow sales representatives to make inappropriate claims or encourage off-label use of any of its medicines; Pfizer, in court papers, has denied many of Franklin’s accusations; photo (M) Newly unsealed court documents reveal that some physicians, in exchange for money, have allowed pharmaceutical sales representatives into their examining rooms to meet with patients, review medical charts and recommend what medicines to prescribe. And some of those salespeople tried to influence doctors to prescribe drugs for uses that were not approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration, those documents show.