Some independent scientists are starting to view our medical literature as propaganda...

[Guest guest]

Do Pharmaceutical Commercials Benefit Americans? On this week’s JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with Melody Petersen, an independent journalist who formerly covered the drug industry for the NEW YORK TIMES and is author of OUR DAILY MEDS: HOW THE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES TRANSFORMED THEMSELVES INTO SLICK MARKETING MACHINES AND HOOKED THE NATION ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS. Addressing how advertising and marketing have affected the prescription drug business, Petersen said: "A very powerful technique that the drug companies spend millions and millions of dollars on is hiring physicians to give lectures to other physicians on their drugs.

It looks like the physician is up there giving his independent position on this drug, but often he’s been trained by an advertising agency. His slide presentation has been created by an ad agency. It looks like independent science, but it’s not... They want to get as many articles published in our medical journals as they can that show their products in favorable lights and will get physicians to prescribe them, so they often hire a Madison Avenue ad agency to write up an article for them or a study. The name of the ad agency rarely appears in the published version; instead, they hire doctors to put their names on as author... It’s gone so far that some independent scientists are starting to view our medical literature as propaganda." Others, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), argue that "direct to consumer" ads help educate and engage

prospective patients about their healthcare options. http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/