Discussion for article #233021
excellent comparison.
Good bit, but he could have given us more fan service, to wit
For seven months in the late '90s I was an associate project director for a “medical communications company” in NYC. Essentially, this company was a marketing/PR firm for the pharmaceutical industry.
So if, for instance, a company wanted to promote an off-label use for one of its drugs, my job was to set up a “symposium.” I’d invite a number of doctors (from a list that was unofficially OK’d–and often created–by the pharma company), discuss the general idea of the symposium, and arrange for their travel, accommodations, and “honoraria.” We’d all meet at a fancy hotel. These docs would each give a talk about their experience with the drug, and then have a discussion. Of course, the talks and discussion went into depth about the benefits of the drug’s uses, including, especially, its off-label uses. The transcript would be turned into an article for a journal the medical communications company published, and of course used to bolster the argument for the off-label use’s approval.
These symposia were always attended by a rep from the drug company. He/she never spoke directly to the doctors.
Some doctors had a sort of road show they could tweak on short notice to say pretty much whatever you wanted them to say. Others actually asked, “What do you want me to say?” Some haggled about their honoraria. I didn’t like a single one I met.
I was fired after seven months. The steak houses and fancy hotels were sweet, but I had too many problems with the way these things were done, and consequently, certainly wasn’t a good “fit.” Some of the things I witnessed in my short time there just blew my mind, especially the clinical-trial administration part. These were New York yuppies looking to go public. How they did it and why really did not matter.
This was 20 years ago. It’s pretty clear things haven’t gotten better in the interim.
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In case you missed it, the site JO is referring to is openpaymentsdata.cms.gov. You put in the name of a doctor, and the state.