We’ve gotten thousands of first-time visitors since we launched the eDrugSearch.com Community in late February. So I’ve decided, every once and a while, to post some basic information to help explain why we do what we do here, and why we’re so proud of our role in helping American consumers save money on prescription drugs by purchasing from licensed Canadian and international pharmacies.
This is part of a lecture by Dr. Marcia Angell, the first woman to serve as editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, and now a lecturer at Harvard. She explains why drug prices are so high for U.S. consumers; namely, that pharmaceutical companies spend too much on marketing and on creating “me too” drugs to extend their patents — while producing no real innovation.
I hope you find it educational.
From ScienceDaily:
A new study by two York University researchers estimates the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spends almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development, contrary to the industry’s claim.
The researchers’ estimate is based on the systematic collection of data directly from the industry and doctors during 2004, which shows the U.S. pharmaceutical industry spent 24.4% of the sales dollar on promotion, versus 13.4% for research and development, as a percentage of US domestic sales of US$235.4 billion.
What most Americans don’t realize — because we have such short memories — is that not so long ago, the kind of wall-to-wall pharma advertising that is commonplace today did not exist. It was regulated. Can someone please tell me who benefits from this massive direct-to-consumer spending besides big pharmaceutical company shareholders?
Because of this huge DTC spending:
- There is less money for R&D
- People are asking their doctors for drugs they don’t need
- Doctors are reduced to pill order-takers
Hey, obviously we believe in the benefits of prescription drugs, or we wouldn’t have started eDrugSearch.com. But unregulated DTC advertising is about drug company profits — not improving people’s health.
For about a year and half now, Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the artificial heart, has been a paid endorser for the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor. Pfizer keeps using Jarvik despite his being branded a “fop” who goes over like a lead balloon by the all-powerful John Mack. He’s also been called “Gollum-y” by Dr. Michael Eades. And NBC has questioned whether his medical credentials are all they’re hyped up to be.
But there’s something else that bugs us about Jarvik’s commercials: the audio track. Is it just me, or does it sound like Jarvik’s lines have been dubbed over later rather than recorded along with the video? It’s creepy.
Sermo, the online physician community, announced it will be collaborating with Pfizer to
Discover, with physicians, how best to transform the way medical information is exchanged in the fast-moving social media environment
Create an open and transparent discussion with physicians through the innovative channel offered by online exchange
Engage with the FDA to define guidelines for the use of social media in communications with healthcare professionals
Work with physicians to develop a productive exchange between pharmaceutical professionals and the Sermo community
After I heard of Pfizer’s involvement with Sermo, I was thinking the same thing as everybody else: “Did anyone ask the doctors about this?”
According to John Mack , Sermo did — kind of:
[Sermo founder Daniel] Palestrant said that over 50% of Sermo members consistently said that Sermo should invite pharma companies to be clients. He based this partly at least on a poll of Sermo members conducted between May 19, 2007 and June 2, 2007 that showed 54% favored pharma clients, 18% were against it, and 28% were not sure.
The problem is, there were only 89 responses — a self-selected group of less than 0.3% of all Sermo members! Hardly a scientific poll as many of my Pharma BlogosphereTM colleagues would say. In fact, most of the poll data that I saw in Palestrant’s slides had fewer than 100 responses.
I am going to agree with Mack on this one. With a community of over 35,000 physicians, a more substantial poll than just 89 responses is a must.
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Cary Byrd, President of eDrugSearch.com
