Big Pharma: Modern Robber Barons
With vast pots of money, it happily breaks all the rules
Vol. 6, Issue No. 14 | July 20, 2010 By Denny Hatch
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IN THE NEWS
FDA Panel Grants Avandia a ReprieveA Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted Wednesday to recommend allowing sales of the diabetes drug Avandia to continue, but said the drug poses a "significant safety" concern because it raises the risk of heart attacks …
Twelve of the panel's 33 members voted to remove the drug, and most of those who supported keeping Avandia on the market said they wanted more restrictions on its use. Many said their vote to retain Avandia was based on the lack of hard evidence about potential harm. They said Avandia should be used only if other diabetes' drugs don't work.
—Alicia Mundy and Jennifer Corbett Dooren
The Wall Street Journal, July 15, 2010
Check out the July 15th story in the IN THE NEWS section at right.
The diabetes drug Avandia has been allowed to remain on the market even though a large percentage of the medical community believes it raises the risk of heart attacks and should be banned.
The next day, Avandia’s maker, GlaxoSmithKline, announced it had set aside $2.4 billion to settle lawsuits from consumers that believe they suffered harm from the drug.
Outrageous? Nah.
Business as usual in the gazillion-dollar world of Pharmaceuticals.
Spreading Cash Around Like a Farmer Spreads Manure
Last year, the Pharmaceuticals/Health Products industry spent $267 million on lobbying activities and employed 1,733 lobbyists to deal with 446 clients.
In the 2008 election cycle, folks at Big Pharma gave $29.7 million in political contributions—$14.9 million to Democrats and $14.6 million to Republicans.
Thanks to years of bribing Congress, Big Pharma was permitted to write into the Prescription Drug Plan (Part D) that Medicare could not negotiate lower prices with drug makers. Only the Veteran’s Administration has the right to barter.
So I pay in excess of $1,000 a year for my two prescription pills a day.
That’s where all Big Pharma’s money comes from—the result of rapacious congressmen who, in their frenzy to be reelected, do not give a damn for me or tens of millions like me.
In short, this industry has so much money, it corrupts everything in its path.
How Big Pharma Contaminated TV Network News
Network evening news has devolved into the pharmaceutical industry’s private on-air infirmary. The overwhelming percentage of commercials feature a parade of pusillanimous whining boomers and seniors who can’t pee, poop, get it up, sleep or deal with myriad aches, pains, itchies and other icky bodily symptoms.
In addition, Big Pharma is responsible for incubating the most rare of all diseases—one that afflicts only three people in the world.
This disease is Cronkitis—the pathological compulsion to emulate Walter Cronkite.
Cronkitis turns normally upbeat, intelligent, sometimes droll and occasionally funny network anchors into a trio of ponderous pontificators, whose mission is to project gravitas and pander to advertisers by introducing at least one mawkish health feature a night as editorial content that will give cred to what is being hawked—medicines with more side effects than unpasteurized snake oil.
Takeaways to Consider
The 8 Advantages of Direct Mail Over TV1. Lists of people with specific illnesses are available, so your marketing money is being spent efficiently only on qualified prospects.
2. Unlike a TV commercial that can be instantly silenced or banished by a remote control, a direct mail package does not go away with a simple click.
3. Direct mail is not like a commercial break where the viewer walks out on you and goes to the john. In fact, your offer might be taken into the john for uninterrupted contemplation.
4. “Of all practical advertising media, only direct mail offers a sufficiently large canvas for telling a complex story.” —Bill Jayme
5. A direct mail message is not limited by time (as in TV) or space (as in off-the-page advertising). Plenty of room exists for features, benefits, a guarantee, testimonials from happy users, endorsements by physicians and perhaps a hot potato or two (e.g., a discount certificate with perceived value or the promise of a nifty premium).
6. It is possible to ask for an order and make it easy to order.
7. When you get a response, it can be traced back to the offer and original list, making a precise accounting of ROI possible.
8. The last half of the direct mail effort will not be devoted to a litany of harrowing disclaimers that range from constipation, headaches and nausea on up to amputation, blindness and death.
Websites Related to Today's Edition
“FDA Panel Grants Avandia a Reprieve”Pharmaceuticals/Health Products lobbying expenses 2009
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products political contributions
Abbott Laboratories Pays $1.67 billion to Cenocor, patent infringement
AstraZeneca fined $520 million for Seroquel marketing
Bayer Fined $97.5 million for kickbacks
Bayer Fined $16 million for aspirin price Fixing
Bristol-Myers Fined $515 million claims
Cephalon fined $443.9 for improper sales and marketing practices
GlaxoSmithKline Hid Avandia Test Data
Glaxo to pay IRS $3.4 billion
Glaxo to pay $150 million for Medicare fraud
Glaxo sets aside $2.4 billion Avandia settlements
Johnson & Johnson pays $81 million fine
Lilly to pay nearly $700 million Zyprexa claims
Lilly to pay $1.42 billion for off-label Zyprexa promotion
Merck to pay $650 million to settle pricing suits
Merck pays $2.3 billion in tax case
Merck to pay $4.85 billion in Vioxx claims
Novartis pays $250 million sex discrimination
Pfizer-Wyeth fined $2.3 billion for illegal Bextra Marketing
Pfizer hit with $103 million in punitive damages for Prempro
Companies Mentioned:
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