On the same day FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamberg announced a "bad drug" initiative in which health professionals are asked to report questionable ads, Thomas Abrams, director of FDA's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising and Communication (DDMAC) briefed the conference on FDA regulation of drug ads, and, it turned out, fielded participant concerns about too tepid enforcement.
Why would an FDA warning letter about illegal advertising or even an FDA-ordered corrective ad campaign, as seen with the Yaz birth control pill, reform pharma asked conference chair Dr. Lambert when billion dollar settlements over Zyprexa and Bextra marketing haven't? "Doesn't the FDA have the authority to seize a product or take stronger actions?"
FDA sanctioned "disease awareness" ads were also questioned. "Why are ads which appear to 'educate' but really create and monger diseases to sell drugs permitted by the FDA?" asked National Women's Health Network executive director Cindy Pearson.
Many project investigators reported the doctors that they worked with denied being affected by pharmaceutical gifts though felt their colleagues were. But Gregory Eastwood, M.D., Professor of Medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University and former Dean of the Medical College of Georgia movingly recounted a $1000 gift he received from Pfizer as a young resident doctor.
"Even though it was a long time ago and I am aware of Pfizer's mismarketing since then, I still have a warm spot in my heart for Pfizer," he admitted. Dr. Eastwood is now Conflict of Interest Officer at SUNY upstate.
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