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Healthy Skepticism Library item: 18778

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

 

Publication type: Electronic Source

Rich
Does the buck stop with the CEO ?
World of DTC Marketing 2010 Oct 14
http://worldofdtcmarketing.com/does-the-buck-stop-with-the-ceo/business-of-the-drug-industry/?goback=.gde_2521561_member_32245223


Full text:

U.S. regulators should consider pursuing misdemeanor charges against drug company executives for promoting unauthorized uses of their medicines, Food and Drug Administration Deputy Chief for Litigation Eric Blumberg said. So where does the buck stop and who is ultimately responsible for off label promotions of drugs ?

If a drug, for example, is illegally promoted and sales skyrocket there is a good chance that the CEO will take home a bigger paycheck in the form of a bonus or other perks. The question than becomes what happens when the company profits from illegal marketing ? Are fines just the cost of doing business ?

Drug companies CEO’s have a lot on their plates today. Given the size of most drug companies there is no way, realistically, that a CEO can micromanage day to day operations including the off label promotions of his companies products. What he can do, however, is tighten up his chain of command and communicate to his key management team that he wants processes and procedures put in place to ensure that no drug is illegally promoted.

What I have said here many times is that CEO’s need to firmly communicate to the rank and file that patients should be at the center of every decision that is made. “Do what is best for patients and earn their trust and the profits will follow”. I also believe that another reason bad marketing decisions are made by big pharma is their insistence that many marketing people “come from the field”. Former sales people are likely to make decisions based on what is best for salespeople to make numbers not what is best for patients.

Pursuing misdemeanor charges against drug company executives is NOT the way to address the problem of illegal marketing. They have to hit drug companies where it really hurts and that is in the form of record fines. There has to be concrete proof, however, that a conscious effort was taken to market the product outside of legal guidelines.

 

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