Healthy Skepticism Library item: 5948

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Publication type: news

Reuters .
Drug-company promotions under fire from consumer groups
The Boston Globe 2006 Aug 14
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/biotechnology/articles/2006/08/14/drug_company_promotions_under_fire_from_consumer_groups/

Full text:

Drug-company promotions under fire from consumer groups
By Reuters | August 14, 2006

WASHINGTON — A free Viagra prescription or a no-cost trial of sleeping pills are examples of growing offers to US consumers, but regulators and critics worry about the side effects of pitching medicines as if they were soap.

Drug makers say the coupons, rebates, and similar promotions reduce patient costs or provide a chance to try new medicines. Consumer groups, however, say the promotions may draw people to risky drugs they may not need, without long-term savings.

Coupons ``can increase the patient’s desire to take a drug that may or may not be the most suitable drug,” said Susan Sherry, deputy director of Community Catalyst, a Massachusetts-based group that has joined 22 others seeking a Food and Drug Administration ban on the giveaways.

The offers are appearing across the prescription drug business, trying to grab customers’ attention in magazines and on websites. Pfizer Inc., for example, offers a free prescription of the impotence drug Viagra for every six filled. Patients can try seven days of the Sanofi-Aventis sleeping pill Ambien at no cost.

The FDA has raised concerns. In a notice earlier this year, the agency said, ``Prescription drugs promoted with coupons or free trial offers may be seen as more widely indicated, more appropriate, and/or less risky than they really are.”

But that notice, which proposed a study of responses to mock insomnia drug promotions, was withdrawn, FDA spokeswoman Julie Zawisza said. Officials now are working to ``identify the important issues or questions to be considered and to determine the appropriate role of the FDA,” she said.

Since 1994, more than 10 million patients have redeemed free trial vouchers through programs run by drug wholesaler McKesson Corp., said Kerr Holbrook, vice president of marketing and business development.

The vouchers help cash-strapped patients who might otherwise delay therapy or skip a refill, Holbrook said. Unlike the free samples doctors often give out, obtaining drugs through a voucher is tracked by a doctor and pharmacist.

The program ``ensures safety, and it ensures access to the patient at a good price,” he said.

Pfizer said its Viagra ``value card,” which offers a free seventh prescription, is aimed at helping men afford the drug if they do not have insurance coverage for it.

Sanofi-Aventis spokeswoman Melissa Feltmann said the Ambien offer was meant to provide access to the sleeping drug and stressed that patients must have a valid prescription.

Critics say a coupon could steer a person to a brand-name drug when a cheaper generic copy would work as well. ``All that does is get them used to being on the expensive drug,” said Dr. Jerry Avorn, a Harvard professor and author of the book ``Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks and Costs of Prescription Drugs.”

Some critics object to coupons attached to ``reminder ads” that list only a drug name and no details about what it treats or possible side effects.

Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Research Center for Women & Families, said it was ``particularly disturbing to have nothing but `here’s some free sleeping pills,’ with absolutely no information about why you might or might not want to take it.”

Freebies for children also are troubling, Zuckerman and others said. Galderma Pharma, a joint venture of Nestle SA and L’Oreal , drew fire for giving free music downloads to patients who got prescriptions for acne drug Differin. That offer, seen as a bid to attract teenagers, has been stopped.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry group, said abuses were rare and urged regulators to study coupon offers case-by-case rather than limiting them.

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.