Comments on: Billy Tauzin: Pharma’s Death By A Thousand Cuts

By: Justice in MI

Justice in MI — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:34:10 +0000

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.

By: Pharma Guy 2

Pharma Guy 2 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:40:31 +0000

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.

By: Nathan

Nathan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:13:13 +0000

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…

By: C. Phamra Res III

C. Phamra Res III — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:45:44 +0000

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!!!!

By: Laurie

Laurie — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:00:48 +0000

“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.

By: Doc

Doc — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:50:24 +0000

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.

By: Justice in MI

Justice in MI — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:30:26 +0000

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.

By: Lisa Van S

Lisa Van S — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:51:14 +0000

Maybe,.. Just Maybe!!.. Billy should practice what he preaches!

By: Jaynesday

Jaynesday — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:35:26 +0000

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.

By: Jaynesday

Jaynesday — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:45:57 +0000

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.