Guest guest Posted November 25, 2004 Report Share Posted November 25, 2004 Prying Eyes at the Pharmacy > > DRUG STORE COWBOYS > Dan Frosch, AlterNet > Pharmacies and drug companies have come up with a novel way > to make more money -- use our medical records to > pitch us more drugs. > http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/20512/ > > Drug Store Cowboys > By Dan Frosch, AlterNet. Posted November 16, 2004. > > Pharmacies and drug companies have come up with a novel way to make > more money – use our medical records to pitch us more drugs. > > > A pharmaceutical company gets sued for bribing doctors to promote a > particular drug. An HIV-positive New Yorker sues a drug store chain for > buying and entering his medical records in a database without his > consent. > Two companies get sued for sending out unsolicited free samples of > prescription drugs like Prozac. And on and on. > > Manufacturing legal drugs is a growth industry and the latest twist in > the > multi-billion dollar drug-pushing game is that your local pharmacy may be > turning into a marketing agency for the big drug companies. > > The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC), a consumer advocacy group, > filed a > lawsuit in September against supermarket giant Albertsons in California > Superior Court, for allegedly selling the private prescription drug > information > of its customers to pharmaceutical companies. PRC also named 17 > pharmaceutical heavyweights, like AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and > GlaxoSmithKline, > as co-defendants, claiming that the companies use the information to > promote their drugs through unsolicited phone calls and letters. > > According to PRC, the drug companies have been paying Albertsons between > $3.00 and $4.50 for every promotional letter written and between > $12.00 and > $15.00 for every phone call made to unwitting customers. Albertsons, the > group maintains, stands to make millions in the process. PRC says both > Albertsons and the drug companies are breaking California law because > customers are never given the option of signing up to receive the > calls or > letters as mandated by the state's privacy regulations. > > " What Albertsons is doing interferes with the patient-physician > relationship > and it visits terrible harm on people who rely on prescription drug > notices and > don't realize that they're being paid for by drug companies, " says > Jeffrey > Krinsk, an attorney for PRC. " Perhaps most pernicious is the potential > harm of > third parties learning the existence of an underlying condition if the > mail is > mistakenly sent to the wrong address. " > > The drug companies footing the bill are equally culpable, adds Beth > Givens, > director of PRC. Though the actual letters and phone calls may come from > Albertsons and appear to inform patients of the benefits of a > particular drug > or remind them to refill a prescription, the drug companies are clearly > involved. A form letter and a training phone call transcript from > Albertsons, > provided by PRC, include clauses stating that the letter or phone call > was > " provided with financial support " or " sponsored by " a particular drug > company, but that no information would be shared. > > That, says Givens, is proof enough that information has indeed been > exchanged between Albertsons and the drug companies, especially given the > potential money both parties can make in the process. Further, Givens > alleges that the refill reminders Albertsons sends on behalf of the drug > companies are sometimes to customers whose doctors have not actually > authorized a refill – a frightening charge. > > Says Givens: " Albertsons wouldn't have any drug marketing program unless > willing pharmaceutical companies signed on the dotted line. " > > Indeed, it's the ostensibly cozy relationship between pharmacies and drug > companies that's raising eyebrows in this particular case. > Prescription drug > costs have risen sharply over the past decade – up an average of 7.3 > percent > annually from 1992 to 2002, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a > non-profit health research organization. During that same time, the > foundation reports, the number of prescription drugs purchased by > Americans > exploded by 74 percent. Subsequently, pharmaceutical companies have > become the beneficiaries of a $400 billion a year business – more than > enough incentive to keep their marketing machines running full steam. > > Drug companies spend billons each year promoting their wares, in the > form of > television and print ads, as well as giveaways to physicians. A 2001 > lawsuit > against TAP Pharmaceuticals for bribing doctors to promote Livapro, a > prostate cancer drug, has led to increased scrutiny, but the drug > companies > have invariably refined their techniques. The alleged backdoor scheme > highlighted in the PRC suit seems to indicate a more nuanced marketing > approach. > > " Albertsons is acting as a vehicle for the drug companies, " says Meredith > Rosenthal, assistant professor of health economics and policy at Harvard > University. " There have always been very worrisome ethical > implications on > the physician side in terms of pharmaceutical companies paying > doctors, and > I think this is similar in that consumers trust their pharmacies to be > their > unbiased advocate. " > > There is some precedent to what's happening in California. In 2001, two > Massachusetts men, also represented by Jeffrey Krinsk, sued CVS > Pharmacy, Glaxo Wellcome pharmaceuticals and Elensys, a marketing > company, for mailing out promotional drug information based on a > patient's > particular condition. CVS agreed to stop the practice. > > Similar suits have been filed over the past few years against local > pharmacies > and drug companies in other states as well. In 2001, an HIV-positive New > York man sued CVS for buying his medical records and allegedly logging > them into a database without his consent after it took over operations > of his > local pharmacy. In 2002, the Clearwater, Fla.-based Eckerd pharmacy chain > paid $1 million in legal fines for using the medical information of > its customers > for marketing purposes. That same year in Florida, Walgreens and Eli > Lilly > were sued for sending out unsolicited, free samples of prescription > drugs like > the anti-depressant Prozac. > > Lawyers like Krinsk are filing claims state by state because the > federal Health > Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, while > giving > patients control over medical records, doesn't completely protect their > prescription drug information. What's more, many states have privacy laws > which go beyond HIPAA and actually prohibit using medical information for > marketing without first getting consent from the patient. California, > as it > happens, passed such a law in 2002. > > Daniel Solove, a professor at George Washington University law school and > an expert in privacy law, called the letters and phone calls from > Albertsons > legally " deceptive " because patients think they're from the pharmacist > when > really, it's the drug companies speaking. Solove referred to one > letter from > Albertsons which warns customers to renew their prescription of Plavix, a > heart disease medicine, as " scare tactics. " > > " The letter basically implies that you're at an increased risk for a > heart attack > if you don't keep taking this drug, " he says. Solove adds that if > customers > have not given their permission to Albertsons first, then both > Albertsons and > the drug companies are in violation of California privacy law. " There > are some > big problems with this kind of marketing, " he says. > > For their part, the pharmacies and the drug companies deny any > wrongdoing. > Albertsons spokeswoman Stacia Levenfeld emailed AlterNet a statement > released by the company after the lawsuit was originally filed: " We > highly > value and respect the privacy of our pharmacy customers and do not > sell, nor > have we ever sold, their private information. We consider the > allegations in > this complaint to be false and totally without merit – and we will > vigorously > defend ourselves against them. " > > Albertsons operates 2,000 pharmacies in 37 states, including Osco, > Jewel-Osco and Sav-On Drug Stores. > > As for the drug companies, AstraZeneca spokeswoman Rachel Bloom says: > " It is our policy not to comment on ongoing litigation. However, in > the matter > you are referring to, we will defend ourselves vigorously. " > > (Incidentally, on Oct. 18, the AFL-CIO and two consumer groups filed suit > against AstraZeneca for misleading patients into switching to a more > expensive ulcer medication through a promotional campaign.) > > Eli Lilly spokesman Phil Belt also declined to comment directly on the > lawsuit. > " We obviously feel very good about our privacy policy, " he said. > " We've got a > privacy officer dedicated to making sure systems are in place that > respect > patient and customer privacy. " > > GlaxoSmithKline did not return repeated phone calls from AlterNet. > > Jeffrey Krinsk says he's considering expanding the lawsuit to include > other > drug companies and pharmacies he believes also engage in illegal > marketing. > Regardless of the outcome, it's become disturbingly clear that in the > astoundingly lucrative and increasingly cutthroat world of > prescription drugs, > people's personal medical information is being bought and sold without > their > knowledge. > > Says Larry Sasich, a pharmacist of 20 years and a research analyst for > Public > Citizen, a consumer advocacy group in Washington D.C.: " This is a > reprehensible practice. The fact that you are using confidential medical > information to a very real extent and that you're promoting expensive > drugs to > a patient that they might not need ... It's unethical professional > behavior. " > > > > Dan Frosch is a New York-based journalist whose work has appeared in the > Los Angeles Times, The Source and the Santa Fe Reporter. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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