Originally Published MX September/October 2005
EDITOR'S PAGE
Guiding the Intermediaries
Over the past decade, pharmaceutical companies have reaped the benefit of relaxed FDA regulation of direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing for new drugs. Marketing expenditures for such new products have skyrocketed, as have drug sales. But when things go wrong—as in the case of the heavily advertised pain reliever Vioxx, withdrawn from the market last year because of safety concerns—theres a significant downside to such public visibility.
In early July, U.S. Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R–TN) called for a two-year moratorium on DTC advertising of new pharmaceuticals. In making his case, Frist contended that such advertising "can lead to inappropriate prescribing and fuel prescription drug spending" and that the ads "oversell benefits and undersell risks."
Compared with DTC marketing in the pharma sector, consumer-oriented marketing for medical technologies offers a much smaller and less-visible target—but one that is definitely growing. Over the past few years, a number of device companies have launched television campaigns, begun to explore opportunities in the retail marketplace, or initiated branding campaigns focusing on specific products or technologies.
Nevertheless, most medical device marketing remains directed at learned intermediaries—healthcare professionals whose intervention is required for use of a particular product. And so far, no one—including Senator Frist—has suggested that DTC device marketing should face new restrictions.
However, such a balance could be easily upset. Patient safety can be equally endangered when learned intermediaries do not have full information about a product's performance—as in the recent case of Guidant's failure to disclose adverse events involving its implantable cardiac defibrillators.
Whether a company is marketing to consumers or to healthcare professionals, full disclosure of benefits and risks is the only appropriate strategy. Anything less places the reputation of the entire device industry at risk.
Copyright ©2005 MX
