Marketing to Doctors: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

prescription drugs the only ovals that can bring people in the Seattle area joy anymore to put it mildly to put it mildly America takes a lot of these things 70% of Americans take at least one prescription drug more than half of us take two researchers say a record four billion prescriptions were written in 2011 total drug spending jumped last year by 3% to nearly three hundred and thirty billion dollars with a B Wow that works out to $1,000 per person on prescription drugs kind of makes you feel like Walter White could have made more money cooking up rheumatoid arthritis medication but but should this really beat that surprising cuz it's impossible to escape pharmaceutical ads you can't turn on the TV without being subjected to an endless stream of sleep-inducing moths old men getting boners while varnishing chairs this if your bladder is calling the shots you may have a medical condition called overactive bladder or OAB okay okay what that woman really needs is a pill to stop her hallucinating anthropomorphic pilatus you've looked inside the prison of your own mind Susan can't even bladder be job but that's only one small part of pharmaceutical marketing you see drugs aren't like most other products because you need someone's permission to buy them which is why all drug ads end with the same catchy phrase ask your doctor if lunesta is right for you ask your doctor about mere Bedrich ask your doctor ask your doctor ask your doctor ask your doctor three words you're either hearing in a commercial or sang to your coworker when he asks you if the mole on his back looks cancerous I don't know gene ask your doctor all I said was how was your weekend it's probably fine drug companies know that doctors hold all the real power in the prescription drug business which is why while they spend nearly 4 billion dollars a year marketing directly to us they spent an estimated twenty four billion dollars a year marketing directly to doctors in fact one analysis claimed that in 2013 nine out of the top ten drug makers spent more on marketing than they did on research drug companies are a bit like high school boyfriends they're much more concerned with getting inside you than being effective once they're in there we take a look at how all that marketing money gets spent which turns out to be surprisingly difficult it's a pretty secretive world you you usually only get tantalizing glimpses into during lawsuits years after the fact for instance in 2012 the government settled a case with the makers of asthma medication advair / allegedly irresponsible marketing practices which meant for the first time we were able to see this video of a 2001 adverse sales meeting ladies and gentlemen please welcome Darryl Baker's Simon Jones rob judge and cyber that was for an asthma medication and then we're treating it like an NBA pregame show please welcome he's 59 whitey likes turkey sandwiches this wife's name is Karen ladies and gentlemen say hello to Darryl boom boom baker the audience in that room were pharmaceutical reps the foot soldiers in every company's drug marketing efforts now drug companies will tell you their reps are there to educate doctors but behind closed doors that message can be a little different there are people in this room who are going to make an ungodly sum of money selling aired their and you know who you are ungodly that would barely be an appropriate tone if they were trying to get cereal into people's bodies let alone drugs now no you don't you don't need to see the people whooping in that room to know what they look like because pharmaceutical sales reps are famously young attractive people in fact this is so widely known it's become a sitcom punchline for years today's the day the pharmaceutical reps show up to peddle their new drugs and the sacred heart that means one thing Julie's here [Music] if something is a joke on Scrubs you know it's common knowledge that show did not do a lot of arcane what is it with phlebotomist and french cuisine am i right you are right Terk we're great friends the problem comes the problem comes if those reps don't understand the effects of the drugs they're pushing listen to one former rep describe his first training session I was in a room with 21 classmates and two trainers and I was the only one with a science background in fact on the first day of training I taught my class and my instructors the very basic process by which two brain cells communicate so essentially former reps are like the cast of Grey's Anatomy they're young they're hot and they have virtually no medical training whatsoever now to be fair most doctors will probably take that into consideration the problem comes when some don't I even had one physician who would often bring out a patient chart if she was having a difficult patient or whatever the case is she'd bring out a patient chart and be like okay Kathleen I've tried this I've tried this what do you recommend here in terms of tweaking and I'm sitting here thinking I'm a political science major you're asking me you know what to prescribe for this patient yeah exactly because the only question a poli-sci major is really qualified to answer is was it worth having to move back in with your parents after college [Applause] if you're thinking why do doctors let drug reps into their offices at all well they don't comment II hand it they'll often show up with free samples and even better free chicken palm whoever said there's no such thing as a free lunch hasn't worked in a doctor's office there are some offices that advertise in the front desk job description free lunch every day not because the doctors are paying for it because the drug reps are bringing in every day free lunch every day now that might not seem like a big deal but think about it lunch is awesome if Charlie Manson brought me a free lunch every day but at least listen to his sales pitch on forehead swastikas so I don't think it's for me charlie but keep talking that's delicious drug companies don't do this to be friendly they do it because they know it works in fact they know a terrifying amount about nearly every prescription coming out of a doctor's office every time a patient goes into a pharmacy to get a prescription filled the information is sold to drug companies who send it to laptops out in the field so we see everything that the doctor does how many prescriptions he prescribes have our medication and the competitors medication if the computer shows that doctors not prescribing as promised all you have to do is say hey you're banging out a lot of prescriptions for the competitors drug and not mine what's going on yeah what's going on Carl you seem to be making medical decisions based on your best judgment I brought you a meatball sub with chips Carl dumped me on this witness with this level of preference unsurprisingly drug companies have in the past crossed the line pushing doctors to prescribe pills for non-fda-approved uses that's called going off-label and here is a horrifying example involving Astra Zeneca the government charged were going off label with seroquel and antipsychotic with dangerous side effects the allegations which were very troubling were that they were taking a drug that was really approved for fairly narrow uses bipolar disorders and schizophrenia end up marketing it for everything from sleeplessness to depression and dementia here's the thing you can't just give people potentially dangerous drugs and see what happens you're a fortune 500 company not a white guy with dreadlocks at Burning Man AstraZeneca denied any wrongdoing but it paid half a billion dollars to settle the lawsuits and if you're thinking well look that's just one company with one drug you should know that just about every major drug company has paid money to settle similar charges johnson and johnson paid 2.2 billion Eli Lilly paid 1.4 billion Pfizer and its subsidiary paid 2.3 billion and GlaxoSmithKline paid out a record three billion dollars to settle accusations that it had among other things pushed wellbutrin an antidepressant as a cure for weight gain and sexual dysfunction or as one former drug rep describes the pitch it was a quick Zenor for your doc to tell your doctor hey Doc remember wellbutrin it's the happy horny skinny drug okay that's not just irresponsible that's copyright infringement because there was only one happy horny skinny drug and that is crystal meth so that that's a fact right there for the increasing number of doctors who will refuse even to see drug reps the companies have one other trick up their sleeve simply paying doctors to talk to other doctors about their products over dinner and that sounds ridiculous but not as ridiculous as the special ego boosting title they use I essentially say to a doctor hey our company has identified you to be a thought leader would you like to be a thought leader for our company the doctor were normally almost every time say yes of course they say yes that's an appealing phrase doctors like to be called thought leaders the same way that Brendan Fraser likes being called two-time Academy Award winner Brendan Fraser thanks it's clearly not true but it's got a lovely ring to it and look how happy it makes it for a position described as thought leader not a lot of thought goes into the job in many cases these slides and the content and the script are actually prepared by the drug company it's not always clear the audience that this is material that was really scripted completely by the drug company that was paying the doctor to give the talk okay so if you're a doctor just regurgitating a script you're not really a thought leader so much as you are a thought Sayer Abraham Lincoln was a thought leader you're more like the animatronic Lincoln at Disneyland yeah to be fair again GlaxoSmithKline will no longer pay for thought leaders and the industry in general claims they're reforming in fact a spokeswoman for pharma the drug industry's trade group has even bragged about the tough new restrictions they put in place in our Pharma code we say that pharmaceutical representatives could can bring an occasional meal a modest meal turkey sandwiches pizza I don't want to just focus on Turkey maybe we could have ham sandwiches but modest meals not steak in a restaurant oh no no not in a restaurant although we probably allow a steak and an Outback Steakhouse because come on that's not a great steak that's basically a chunk of horse meat with grill marks drawn on it with a sharpie so no one's getting epically compromised by that that's what we're saying this voluntary farmer code is I guess a step in the right direction so let's see how one of their members have been a voice abiding by it the Justice Department filed a civil fraud lawsuit against a Swiss drug maker Novartis accusing it of paying kickbacks and lavishly spending on doctors including taking some out to Hooters in exchange for prescribing its drugs don't worry researches show the best medical decisions are always made with an Arizona State College football game blasting in the background but at least Hooters qualifies as a modest meal that they allegedly also pay doctors to speak at places like l200 in Chicago a restaurant whose Zagat review reads and I quote tabs may bring tears to your eyes so many sakes for special occasions only unless of course you go on someone else's diet I'm guessing at the end of the meal the waiter came over and asked separate checks or is one person buying your influence just what is it oh that's very nice of him there you go and at least they were there for that one that the suit says many doctors took payments for speeches they never even gave all of which Novartis has denied saying that everything they did had a legitimate business purpose and besides speaker programs like theirs are an accepted and customary practice in the industry which is kind of the whole point even in its best form hiring doctors as paid spokesmen seems like a conflict of interest and notable reports have found that many drugs top prescribers are also often getting money from that drugs company which is worrying because we trust doctors when you see Rihanna trying to get you to drink coconut water you know she's getting money to do that and you take that into account you think to yourself I'm glad you're getting paid RiRi but I'm actually not going to drink that because you and I both know that coconut water tastes like cereal milk mixed with bull semen so we both know that so I'm going to take that into account when I make this decision for myself I know this is all being disheartening but luckily there is actually some good news here a new clause and the Affordable Care Act will for the first time ever allow average citizens to search a federal website to see all of the perks given to physicians by pharmaceutical companies now I know what you're thinking what a federal website made up of a list of doctors hold on let me come ante up a new tab right now this website is actually kind of fascinating that the first batch of numbers are now online covering the last five months of 2013 and you can and absolutely should go online and look up your doctor at this address and see what you find maybe you'll find your doctor didn't a little research for a drug company which is probably fine or maybe as Pro Publica did when they looked at Pharma payments you'll find a doctor who's earned more than a million dollars delivering promotional talks and consulting or maybe like we did you'll find a doctor who got food and beverages one day worth four cents I have to know what that meal was because the only way a four cent meal makes sense is if that doctor is a mouse that's the only way anything the point is there is information on this database you should know and this should really be just the beginning if drug companies really want to regain our trust maybe they should let us know the effect that their money has on doctors in the only way they know how have you noticed anything strange about your doctor does he seem happier than usual these days is he quick to prescribe drugs you think you might not need know that one more actually Justice waiting-room frequently features surprisingly attractive not sick looking people well that may be because your doctors been taking pharmaceutical money pharmaceutical money takes many forms from free lunches to speaking fees here's how it works money combines with the cash receptors in your doctor's wallet to create fast-acting financial relief so your doctor can rest easy and enjoy life common side effects of doctors taking money may include chronic over-prescription unusually heavy cash flow dependency on free samples inflammation of confidence affluenza and an increased tendency to suggest off-label prescriptions which in turn can cause heart attack stroke loss of feeling in arms and legs seizures blurred vision grinding of the teeth temporary deafness total blindness numbness sudden bursts of rage reduction of trust angry erections lasting over 17 hours and ask a doctor today if he's taking pharmaceutical company money then ask your doctor what the money is for ask your doctor if he's taken any money from the companies who make the drugs he just prescribed for you then ask yourself if you're satisfied with that answer pharmaceutical money ask your doctor if he's taking it is right for you you

Channel: LastWeekTonight

Views: 12,233,207

Rating: 4.9161301 out of 5

Keywords: last week tonight with john oliver, Pharmaceutical Drug (Medical Treatment), Pharmaceutical Industry (Industry), Prescription Drug (Drug Legal Status)

Id: YQZ2UeOTO3I

Length: 17min 13sec (1033 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 08 2015

Reddit Comments

[u/Houndie]

If you're wondering where you've seen that doctor at the end before

[u/Sickfire22]

oh man its good to have this level of quality journalism back again

[u/mrbrightside7592]

that being effective once you're in there joke was gold

[u/Johnnycinco5]

For the lazy

https://openpaymentsdata.cms.gov

[u/IwishIwasGoku]

Brb sending this video to all my poli sci friends

[u/come-on-now-please]

All seriousness aside, I'm glad that I learned about the "command-t" to open up new tabs today from watching.

[u/LethalWizzle]

Where are the kind people who popped up UK mirrors for the impatient last season?

[u/Houndie]

Time for another season of "who can get the guaranteed Monday karma" on /r/television!

[u/peon47]

There needs to be a Thank You For Smoking style movie about this.