Pharmaceutical promotion is going undercover to a theater near you.
Starting next month, moviegoers in select cities will be able to see the heart-wrenching real stories of three people suffering from immune diseases - rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn's disease - in a new kind of documentary.
What viewers will not see, unless they wait for the last line of the ending credits, is that the film was produced by Centocor Inc., the Horsham-based biotechnology subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson and maker of the No. 1 treatment for those diseases.
Nor will they hear the name of Centocor's drug, Remicade, or about its high cost, even though the patients are shown getting the treatment and talking about their recoveries.
The film, titled Innerstate, is the drug industry's boldest foray into a form of indirect promotions called "patient education" or "disease awareness," as opposed to more explicit drug ads on TV, infomercials or pitches to doctors.
Centocor says no other drug company has undertaken such a campaign merging art with promotion. Some companies have underwritten outside film projects or produced patient testimonials about their drugs.
In this case, Centocor's director of public relations, Michael Parks, actually served as executive producer and personally sifted through the stories of 40 patients to pick the three for the documentary. He is overseeing its theatrical release.
"This is not about Remicade. It's about elevating public awareness of these conditions," said Parks, who declined to say how much the project is costing.
Alexander Sugerman-Brozan, director of the Boston-based Prescription Access Litigation Project, which opposes "ridiculous, questionable or manipulative" drug advertising, said the film represented a questionable trend in health information.
Innerstate website
More at Philly.com
1 comment:
Are there any good ways to stay informed on this Centocor investigation into overcharging for remicade? It seems like a big deal.
And this past month a European medical study shows that Remicade increases patient morbidity (death) to 2 to 2.8% due to complications/side effects such as Lupus, Lymphoma, Multiple Sclerosis, and fungal infections. Unfortunately I only have access to the abstract of the study.
Last month, a Texas jury awarded $19 million to a woman who suffered lupus as a result of taking Remicade.
Or does this stuff happen in PharmaLand every day? Or like you said, when it rains, it pours...
Post a Comment