Risky Rx: Drug maker's secret strategies

Not innocent bystanders
The records in this case reveal in precise detail how the company attended planning sessions for the meeting and were allowed to tailor the content to meet their commercial goals.

Using MECCs, Parke-Davis set up conference calls so that doctors could talk to one another about the drugs. The moderators of the calls, often thought leaders or their younger assistants, received $250 to $500 a call. Drug company reps were on the line, instructed to stay in a “listen only” mode, but monitoring to be sure the pitch met their expectations.

The papers also reveal a “publication strategy” where the drug company would sponsor small trials of the drug and get the results published only if they met the company’s expectations. If the “core marketing team” found that results did not conform to the company’s goals, "the results will not be published," the documents reveal.

Besides arranging for its own favorable studies, Parke-Davis also contracted with MECCS to develop articles, review papers and letters to the editors of medical journals putting its product in a favorable light.

The company paid the MECC $13,375 to $18,000 for each article, but the reader would not know the drug company or the MECC authored the article. The MECC paid $1,000 each to friendly doctors and pharmacists to sign their names to the articles — creating ghostwriters to make the material appear independent.

Clearly, many of the physicians in these schemes are not innocent bystanders. 

Whether it is ghost writing, making telephone calls to colleagues or leading a CME session, many of the doctors got paid well. Others received a free meal or transportation to a resort to listen to an “educational session.”

Physicians often claim they are not influenced by payments and perks from the pharmaceutical industry. But with the methods so thoroughly detailed in these papers, drug companies clearly believe they are getting their money's worth.

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