OpEdNews » Senior Pfizer executive condemns drug advertising in newspapers and on television!

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July 16, 2007 at 09:49:58

Headlined on 7/16/07:
Senior Pfizer executive condemns drug advertising in newspapers and on television!

by Peter Rost Page 1 of 1 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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I almost fell over backwards today when I read an article by Niklas Prager, Country Manager of Pfizer Sweden, published on July 10, 2007.

Not only did he write for the socialist Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, he also stated that pharmaceutical television commercials and newspaper ads for drugs, which blanket the U.S. media landscape, "is a bad model for Sweden." He explains his position with, "Pharmaceuticals are too important to be treated like any other product."

I couldn't agree more.

(Directions for Pfizer lawyers and PR people reading this: Send image of Swedish article to translation agency, then have heart attack.)

Aftonbladet

Considering that Prager's bosses over at Pfizer Inc New York are among the biggest spenders in the world on DTC drug advertising in newspapers and on television, I figured they'd love to hear what their country manager in Sweden is writing in a left-leaning newspaper.

Something tells me Pfizer Public Relations New York didn't approve this message.

Peter Rost M.D. Peter Rost, M.D., is a former Vice President of Pfizer. He is the author of "The Whistleblower, Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman" and "Killer Drug." He also writes the daily Pharma Law Blog and the Pharma Expert Witness Blog.

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2 comments

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BernardBio not available at this time

Once upon a time

A group did some marketing research and they found that for every dollar spent on research, you get two or three in return. For every dollar spent on marketing, you get five dollars in return. So around the 1990's laws were loosened and the blitz started. With only a finite pot of money available, research took a back seat to marketing. But there was a problem, the two are not really related, it's not either/or. Without research, there are no products to market, regardless of how much you spend on marketing. You go bankrupt.

You couple that approach with the philosophy of only hitting home runs; billion dollar a year drugs. Those drugs are far and few between. Take some safety hits and you are hurting. Eventually the pendulum will swing back to hitting numerous singles with drugs and vaccines that cure diseases rather than promoting lifestyle drugs that may reduce the risk of dying for a group of patients, but not necessarily any one patient, in fact it may do harm in that patient. In the future will be drugs taylored to specific classes of patients where the safety and efficacy are most beneficial. Post marketing studies will be done to expand the patient subset coupled with safety monitoring. Patent extensions will provide the return on investment. Studies will be small and the impact of failure reduced.

by Bernard (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 56 comments) on Monday, July 16, 2007 at 2:29:39 PM

Professor Bagnolo is a Renaissance man: Cultural Anthropologist, Architectural designer, painter, writer, novelist, theologian. As a child prodigy, abed with polio for almost two years, with an off the charts IQ, reading at the graduate level by 5th grade, offered an opportunity to skip three grades at age 8.Later He was a recipient of an Art Institute scholarship at age 11, a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology and in Painting and a merit scholarship in art, and was appointed a Graduate ...

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Professor Emeritus Peter BagnoloProfessor Bagnolo is a Renaissance man: Cultural Anthropologist, Architectural designer, painter, writer, novelist, theologian. As a child prodigy, abed with polio for almost two years, with an off the charts IQ, reading at the graduate level by 5th grade, offered an opportunity to skip three grades at age 8.Later He was a recipient of an Art Institute scholarship at age 11, a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology and in Painting and a merit scholarship in art, and was appointed a Graduate ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

PETER THANKS FOR THIS STORY

Used to be CEO of ad-agency. We turned down lucrative contracts to advertise pesiticides/herbicides and prescription Drugs. (other than some over the counters like aspirin and some vitamines.) Been writing against the practice of phramacueticals advertising for years.

by Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 95 diaries, 1311 comments) on Tuesday, July 17, 2007 at 10:19:55 AM