Billy Tauzin: Pharma’s Death By A Thousand Cuts
15 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // July 15th, 2008 // 2:52 pm
The ‘cagey Cajun,’ who once chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee and now heads the PhRMA trade group, says he has been spending some of his time tutoring ostrich-like ceo’s on the fine points of making favorable impressions on an angry Congress.
“Your house is on fire, and you’re still smoking in bed,” he says he warned pharma execs in a conference call earlier this year. And so, says Tauzin, the industry is paying for past mistakes. “It’s an accumulation of things some companies did over the years, Now, it’s death by a thousand cuts.” And somehow, “we gotta stop the bleeding.”
Unfortunately for Billy’s clients, they have yet to develop a pill that can generate trust.
Hat tip to the WSJ Health blog
BP MD
Virtually all of America’s trust in Big Pharma is long gone! They have a ton of rebuilding to do. They’ll be lost as to how to do so because they can’t buy it like they do everything else.
Justice in MI
Well, some things you probably can’t buy with Mastercard, but I actually don’t think it would be quite as hard to rebuild trust as BP suggests. Almost all of us _want_ to feel good about the industry, because we depend on it if for no other reason. (Imagine being stuck with a doc you essentially distrusted).
No need to go through the usual list of things that could be done that would help immediately. They’ve been discussed here by many. As far as stakeholders, it doesn’t ultimately add up to much.
I think the tougher sell with be shareholders/boards of directors and, through them, the most senior execs they appoint. They will have to risk more thinking outside the (pill)box than they are accustomed to doing.
Paul G
Problem has been with PhRMA itself, totally botched public image campaigns and lobbying efforts. Tauzin hmelf should share the blame.
Virtual Memories
Please keep in mind that Billy is the senator who once said, “My vote cannot be bought! It can, however, be rented.”
Greg O
The American public needs to get over the fact that access to drugs comes with a price. Healthcare is not a right it is a privilege. It costs an extremely large amount of money to bring a drug to market. Every drug you take carries a risk benefit ratio that the individual needs to weigh before taking any drug, including OTC drugs.
Jaynesday
O Greg, you stuck your foot in your mouth now. I think you have it just backwards.
Your version - above
My version -
The American pharma needs to get over the fact that it can sell any kind of half baked drug for any price. Selling to the public is not a right it is a privilege. It costs the consumer an extreme amount of money to purchase drugs today, even ones that sometimes kill and injure them. Every drug that pharma sells carries a risk benefit ratio to the drug manufacturer that the manufacturer needs to weigh before designing, manufacturing and marketing their product to the American public. Including OTC drugs.
Jaynesday
Actually Greg I think that Mr. Tauzin could use your pharma corporate line as the perfect training tool for the “ostrich-like ceo’s ” seeking to improve their impression.
It is a perfect example of how *not* to think if you want to improve your image with the American public and or Congress.
“Death by a thousand cuts” is certainly the natural result of any industry that has made decisions based on this self centered premise.
Lisa Van S
Maybe,.. Just Maybe!!.. Billy should practice what he preaches!
Justice in MI
Greg O. - This is kinda Pharma 101 for the folks here. Blaming the public for “not getting it” has been the industry’s (patently) defensive default option when it can’t think of anything else to say.
One of my favorite lines came from a Chemical and Engineering News report on the industry a few years ago. It ended by quoting LaMattina, formerly of Pfizer. He said (this is close but not exact quote): “Maybe the really best thing the industry could do for its image would be to just shut up for a while.”
That would be a good first step.
Doc
Hey Billy!
Trust is earned by consistent fulfillment of doing the right and ethical thing. No PR campaign from PHARMA can out weigh the ethical desert of big pharma companies. They have and continue to show that their primary concern is profit.
That is maybe ok, if you are not harming patients in the process, but they have been. Keep thinking the general public is a bunch of idiots that will drunken themselves on your PR swill - it’s not happening.
We know when we are being screwed, and big pharma continues to do so.
Laurie
“Every drug you take carries a risk benefit ratio that the individual needs to weigh before taking any drug”
And non biased and honest reporting of those risk IS a right, not a privilege.
C. Phamra Res III
Mr. Billy is playing a cool game here. He is playing this up to make it sound like Phrma has really made some serious progress here. He wants you to think it’s a major step forward that comes with some pain. Get real.
Read the new code. Show me one single provision that genuinely addresses the real issues of today and the abuses of the past.
Pharma still gets to pay thousands of doctors hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaker and consultant fees and hide it from everyone. Sure, Phrma companies will reign in the pens and mugs!!! WOW! That’s painful. But will they stand behind transparency? Will they tell you how many hundreds of thousands of dollars they are paying your psychiatrist or your cardiologist to “consult” for them? No.
Will they commit to testing their DTC advertising to ensure that patients really understand the safety issues with their products? No.
Show me one single thing that involves real and genuine change. It’s all smoke and mirrors. They are experts at this. We will all talk about the new Phrma Code for 6 months or a year. And Phrma loves that. It buys them another year doing the same old thing — paying to influence your doctors and misleading patients with unbalanced advertising.
But yes it’s true they won’t hand out so many pens and mugs. There’s some real change for ya!!!!
Nathan
Justice,
You read C&EN? Are you a chemist or engineer?
Just wondering… I get C&EN every week but it usually ends up in a pile of magazines for a few weeks and ultimately in the trash before I get the chance to read much of it…
Pharma Guy 2
Billy always has been a big jokester! His “new” code will not be considered sufficient by the critics as it will not substitute for a real commitment by the Big Pharma companies to obey laws and regulations. The trust has been so badly destroyed by their “sins’ against society that it will take more than hollow promises.
Justice in MI
Hi Nathan - I read C&EN when searching takes me there - not a regular. The issue I mentioned came out, as I recall, in 2005. Well done.
I am definitely not a chemist or engineer - this was all social science, politics, and econ.