Off label marketing is it really worth the price?
If you haven't seen the news, Pfizers in deep doo with the US Department of Justice over off-label marketing of four drugs, including Bextra. In fact, it just received the largest criminal fine ever against any drug company in the world - $1.3 billion and revenue forfeiture. Thats a total settlement of $2.3 billion not exactly chump change.
And its certainly not the first time Pfizer has been caught with its hand in this particular cookie jar. Its been in hot water for off-label promotion before. And to add insult to injury, it also seems (according to the latest news on the DOJ investigation) that Pfizer has engaged in kickback payments to doctors for nine drugs, including Viagra and Lipitor.
Utterly embarrassing. Its enough to make even the staunchest supporter of the industry scratch their head in disbelief. And quite frankly, its enough to make ones blood boil when you consider the cataclysmic effect headlines like this can have on the whole industrys reputation.
But Pfizers not alone. Yesterday, reports surfaced that Lilly has its own off-label promotion debacle on its hands. In conjunction with CVS Caremark, the company has been mailing doctors information about patients with fibromyalgia and promoting its antidepressant Cymbalta for use with these patients. Consumer advocates say its a paid promotion disguised (apparently not very well!) as a professional mailing.
Come on. Of all companies, surely Lilly should know better. After all, arent they considered the gold standard for ethics and transparency for the pharma industry?
What exactly is so difficult to understand about the off-label marketing rules? Were an industry full of highly intelligent people. We cant begin to convince the public that we simply didnt know or understand what we were doing. Theyre not stupid either and we need to quit acting like they are.
Is the temporary profit really worth the long-term price the whole industry pays for these lapses in sanity? Whats up pharma? Do we really have to keep shooting ourselves in the foot again and again?
It's time we eradicate this bad behavior from our ranks. Only we can change our course. Step up, speak up, make a difference. It's time.