Honesty In Marketing Pharmaceuticals On TV

A 4 minute read + (2) YouTube commercials totaling 2 minutes and 40 seconds = 6:40 minutes. It’s up to you to decide if your health is or isn’t worth investing 6 minutes and 40 seconds of your time.  

This post is using the pharmaceutical drug XARELTO as an example. It is important to understand that this is NOT an isolated situation. There are many drugs that have resulted in litigation due to unethical practices that appear to focus on profit over human lives.

A basic foundational goal in business is to make money. This is NOT an evil concept. When this goal is achieved UNETHICALLY and costs people their lives so others can profit, we cross the “evil” barrier. There are many players in the game that make crossing this “evil” barrier possible. They include:

1. researchers that hide (or worse) fabricate results.

2. marketing companies that willingly help manufacturers sell products or services without concern for potential harmful outcomes.

3. celebrities paid to endorse products without doing their due diligence to determine the safety and efficacy of the products they’re representing.

4. doctors willing to prescribe pharmaceutical products to patients, but NOT family members or friends.

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Here is a 1 minute commercial that presents Xarelto (a blood thinning medication) as a new, safe and effective alternative medication to other medications on the market for PE (pulmonary embolisms – blood clots in the lungs) and DVT (deep vein thrombosis – blood clots that can form in the brain, various organs or extremities.)

We like to believe newer drugs mean newer technology that offers better and safer results. This is certainly possible, but fast tracking drug approval means greater profits for manufacturers. Unfortunately, it is the consumer (also sometimes known as the “human lab rat”) that often tests these drugs BEFORE they have undergone adequate and independent safety and efficacy studies. One might assume the manufacturer would recall the drug from further circulation (regardless of FDA approval for distribution) if too many lives were injured or lost.

Instead, we see it requires TV commercials soliciting clients for class action law suits for injuries and deaths resulting from these drugs. Take a look at this 1 minute commercial regarding Xarelto.

So who should the consumer trust?

1. The Researcher

2. The Doctor

3. The Manufacturer

4. The Celebrity

5. The Lawyer

OR ME?

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• The researcher has claimed it’s safe. How often do you hear those researchers EMPLOYED by these drug manufacturers claiming otherwise?

• The doctor profits from prescribing these drugs and commonly offers no alternative approach to reduce their need.

• The manufacturer continues to sell the drug even if it produces potentially harmful results. The “cost of doing business” often determines whether the drug remains on the shelf for direct sale and/or continuing distribution. If estimated profits exceed potential lawsuit liabilities, distribution is likely to continue.

• The celebrity endorses the drug because they are typically compensated to do so.

• The lawyer’s motivation is likely based on class action lawsuit  settlements financially benefiting BOTH lawyer and client.

• ME– I have no SKIN IN THE GAME! I offer an option nearly everyone verbally supports, yet typically disregards (after supporting it as sound advice.) My advice is simple:

Reduce your chances for ALL diseases that compromise health by VALUING your life. This means stop making EXCUSES and start accepting responsibility that increases your chances for achieving a healthier outcome.

I understand some people will require some type of external support even if they improve their current lifestyles (whether it’s nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, homeopathy, etc…)  because a small percentage of people will be predisposed to succumbing to these conditions. Regardless, if the average consumer accepted his or her role in maintaining health, there would be a dramatic reduction in the number of people prescribed pharmaceuticals reducing the injuries sustained by them.

Therefore, I suggest you trust ME and my advice; choose to make living a healthier life YOUR PRIORITY. This doesn’t mean adding 1 serving of broccoli to dinner; it means slowly incorporating ALL components necessary to achieve BALANCE in life.

Learning how to achieve this may seem hard, but learning to live with DISEASE and DISABILITY from loss of FUNCTION is significantly harder!

“IT WON’T HAPPEN TO ME”

is the “silent” belief defiant consumers insist upon. It’s not based on reason or corrective actions, but rather irrational emotional avoidance. I assure you, as a physician, it is not easy witnessing patients succumb to this eventual outcome. The outcry,

“IF I ONLY KNEW THEN WHAT I KNOW NOW!”

repeats itself over and over again. But, YOU DO KNOW NOW, yet choose to follow the same path toward self induced harm.

CHANGE THE PATH!

 

 

Isn’t this a better idea and more REALISTIC option to achieving the quality of health and life you want than relying on lawsuit settlements from pharmaceutical injuries to create financial freedom?! 

Tags: advertising, disease, doctor, health, lifestyle, media, pharmaceutical, quality of life, research, responsibility