Off-label drug marketing: Lilly, Pfizer say ‘never again’

A feature story in the Sunday New York Times business section covers the well-trod ground of whistleblower lawsuits against major drug companies, focusing mostly on the off-label marketing of anti-psychotics. The only news I could find in the story was the on-the-record interviews offered by chief executives at the two largest drug companies in the nation. Their comments are worth highlighting, since they were buried deep within the story and go against the grain of the usual statements that settlements are not an admission of guilt and are only signed to put the cases “behind us.”

Asked about their big payments to settle government allegations, here’s that the chiefs of Eli Lilly and Pfizer said:

“That was a blemish for us,” John C. Lechleiter, Eli Lilly’s chief executive, said in an interview. “We don’t ever want that to happen again. We put measures in place to assure that not only do we have the right intentions in integrity and compliance, but we have systems in place to support that.”

Jeffrey B. Kindler, Pfizer’s chief executive, voiced similar thoughts in an interview. “Never again,” he said. “I take this very seriously.”

Here’s reporter Duff Wilson’s able summary of what will “never again” occur:

Such marketing, according to analysts and court documents, included payments, gifts, meals and trips for doctors, biased studies, ghostwritten medical journal articles, promotional conference appearances, and payments for postgraduate medical education that encourages a pro-drug outlook among doctors. All of these are tools that federal investigators say companies have used to exaggerate benefits, play down risks and promote off-label uses, meaning those the F.D.A. hasn’t approved.

As a service to investigative reporters who might be reading this blog post, I encourage readers to post in the comments section the names of any drug or drug class they think might be illegally marketed using some or all of the above tactics.