All Posts Tagged With: "hypocrit"

Drug giant Pfizer Inc. has scrapped its ad campaign for anti-cholesterol pill Lipitor featuring Robert Jarvik, the inventor of an artificial heart, as Congress probes whether the commercials are misleading. The rubs are that Jarvik appears to give medical advice but he is not a licensed medical doctor, and Pfizer used body doubles for Jarvik.

Otherwise there are ethical and even moral questions about the financial and medical impacts of drug companies directly marketing to patients. For decades drug companies marketed through “drug detailers” who were often seen lurking at the back doors of medical buildings hectored doctors to prescribe their wares. Celebrity marketing directly to patients via television, radio and print ads has proved effective by actually creating a demand for those drugs and a willingness of many physicians to comply. Studies show that created demand has become an important ingredients in sharply rising drugs costs which have become a big contributor to skyrocketing healthcare costs.