H.R. 6151 responsibility in Drug and Device adverstising act 2008

[Guest guest]

Hi Group,

I wanted to share this automated response from my representative DeFazio of Oregon.

This is in regards to the way Big Pharma is in bed with the advertising and gives kickbacks from Big Pharma to doctors so they will push their drugs on you.

Michele

From: Congressman DeFazio <or04ima@...>Subject: Reply from Congressman DeFazioepifany97523@...Date: Tuesday, July 15, 2008, 9:42 AM

Dear Friend:

Thank you for your message in support of H.R. 6151, the Responsibility in Drug and Device Advertising Act of 2008. I appreciate hearing from you.

You will be pleased to know that I am a cosponsor of H.R. 6151. The recent controversy over Pfizer's Lipitor television commercials featuring the inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, Dr. Jarvik, who is not a licensed physician yet is seen giving advice on whether to take the drug or not, shows how pharmaceutical companies are relying more and more on deceptive advertising to push their products. The Responsibility in Drug and Device Advertising Act would place a three-year moratorium on advertisements for new drugs and devices. This will give doctors time to further analyze the effect the drug has in patients in the critical first 3 years that a new drug hits the market.

The problem runs even deeper than that however. Pharmaceutical companies spend over $19 billion a year in direct marketing to physicians. This marketing comes in the form of lavish trips, meals, speaking fees and honoraria. Over 94% of physicians admit to receiving these gifts every year, with many receiving payments in excess of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that these gifts influence the clinical decisions of doctors. Recently, two of the largest drug companies in America

were found to have been paying doctors hundreds of millions of dollars to prescribe their anemia medications that were found to be unsafe at commonly used doses.

That is why I have introduced the Physician Payment Sunshine Act along with Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman Pete Stark. This legislation builds on existing laws in Minnesota, Vermont, Maine and

West Virginia to require prescription drug and medical device manufacturers to publicly report any gifts with a value of $25 dollars or more provided to doctors in connection with their marketing activities. Under the new legislation, this information would be made widely available to the public. This bill will provide much needed transparency into the increasingly corrosive relationship between the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and American physicians.

Americans are being gouged by pharmaceutical companies that spend more on marketing than they do on research and development. They enjoy generous subsidies from the government, but have no accountability when it comes to the billions of dollars they spend promoting high priced drugs. This bill will shine a light on the deceptive practices of drug companies and give patients the information they need to make an informed decision about their healthcare.

If the $19 billion spent by drug companies for sending doctors on trips to the Caribbean and expensive dinners at the country's finest restaurants are above-board, then the pharmaceutical industry should support our legislation. This bill will keep the pharmaceutical industry honest.

Again, thank you for your message. Please keep in touch.

Sincerely,

Rep. DeFazioFourth District, OREGON

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