Whenever Dr. Victor M. Rivera diagnoses a patient with multiple sclerosis, one of the first things he does is arrange a home visit by a registered nurse such as Alecia Parks. Certified in MS treatment, Parks spends up to two hours teaching a new patient how to give self-injections and explaining the possible side effects of Rebif, a drug co-marketed by Serono Inc. (SRA ) and Pfizer Inc. (PFE ).
She'll then call periodically to make sure patients are still giving themselves shots three times a week as prescribed. Rivera, medical director of the Maxine Mesinger MS Clinic in Houston, says more patients stay on the drug thanks to the personal attention.
While Rivera refers patients to Parks, she does not work for his clinic or a public-health agency.
Her employer?
Serono and Pfizer.
Through an outfit called MS LifeLines, the drugmakers field full-time nurses in the nation's 30 largest metro markets to help patients start and stick with their product, which has a wholesale price of $19,200 a year, by giving them free medical advice.
More here at BusinessWeek
1 comment:
Can you say Kickback and Inducement? I think Serono is familiar with these terms. Somehow not a shock that Pfizer is involved as well.
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