DRUG MANUFACTURERS - THE "DISHONORABLE STACK" JUST KEEPS GETTING TALLER

Tom Curb, R.Ph.

2003 began my forty-first year of interfacing professionally with the pharmaceutical industry. For the first twenty-five of those years, I had great respect for drug companies. They were mostly American, many, and small compared to today’s multi-merged international corporations. They were led by people only a few generations removed from the founders, and those early "heirs" had a sense of history. Many were steeped in the philosophies and ethics of the primary pharmaceutical entrepreneurs - most of whom had come from pharmacy or medical backgrounds. Like their precursors, the mid-twentieth century executives played by the rules when faced with increasing regulation, scientific complexity, and market competition.

Maybe it was really true, or perhaps only the optimism of youth, but in those early years I believed that these companies cared about consumers. I admired and appreciated the ethics and the quality of their sales people and their management - many of whom became close and respected friends – forming relationships that continued beyond their employment and even to this day. I consistently felt, and often stated, that the drug companies were honest and could be relied on to perform honorably.

Then about 15 years ago, I noticed a change. Now, I was never accused of keeping an uncluttered desk, but in the late 1990’s, I cleaned off a corner closest to my office door. There, near the sales representatives’ chair, so the reps would see it first, I began keeping my "dishonorable manufacturer" file – papers that supported claims of unfulfilled contractual obligations and validations of misleading statements, sneaky sales tactics, etc. Early on, it was a very small stack of papers, but in a few years, it got so tall that I could hardly see over it. Often the only defense the salesman could offer was, "You know, the ‘bean counters’ have taken over my company." Sometimes good reps were also the victims of the "bean counters".

Nowadays, when I read about some of the drug industry’s tactics, I’m glad that I am approaching the end of my professional career. I try to console myself with the knowledge that these are no longer "American" drug companies but multinational corporations forming an international drug cartel determined to plunder the US economy rather than compete in a world market. Now – as "icing on the cake" - I read that these pharmaceutical giants have contracted with research organizations to find the best tactics to scare American consumers. (*Scott Hensley – Wall Street Journal - September 22, 2003)

PhRMA, a drug manufacturers trade group, hired a public relations firm…to help develop a communications campaign that would dissuade Americans from importing prescription medicines. Upon finding that legal issues of drug importation have little effect on (US) consumers' perceptions or their likely behavior, the surveyor advised that "the specter of bogus medicine is a forceful lever for moving public and policy-maker opinion in the U.S. against imports". The research firm's report said, "Fear and accountability ‘move the needle' of consumer perceptions the most and recommends that the U.S. industry question the safety and effectiveness of medicines procured elsewhere." It goes on to say that, "When people hear that the drugs they import might be substandard or counterfeits it shatters the impression that the cheaper medicines are the same as more-costly American drugs."

Meanwhile, Jirina Vlk, a spokeswoman for Health Canada (Canada’s equivalent of the U.S. FDA) states, "All of the drugs that we ship into the U.S. from Canada are approved by Health Canada," and "We're not aware of any counterfeit activity at this time." Also, a major and long-time Canadian provider of prescriptions for US consumers verifies that, "Billions of dollars have been sold into the U.S. over the last four and half or five years from Canada with no reports of injury or death as a result of a counterfeit, outdated or substandard product."

Even though authorities in Canada, the main source of US drug imports, say they haven't detected problems in the supply there, the drug industry took the research firm’s sleazy advice to heart. Despite all the overwhelming evidence that the US drug supply – not the Canadian supply - is a major source of counterfeit and contaminated drugs, PhRMA and the drug industry’s paid-for front groups continue to place "scare" advertisements warning that foreign drug importation would weaken "protections that keep counterfeit and contaminated drugs from crossing our borders." Trashy tactics like this have sullied the reputation of a once honorable industry. Shame them all – especially the drug manufacturers’ corporate "bean counters".