A lawyer friend of mine, Liz Hirsch, sent me a great article recently. Apparently many of the big pharma companies have volintarily agreed to stop giving out branded tchotchkes to docs. In the article there's a link to a terrific blog by a doc that is taking pictures of the various swag from both drug and device manufactuers and makes fun, snide comments on each one. My personal favorite is the flash drives given out by Nexium that are in the shape of 'little purple pills'. Almost as good is the grape-scented bottles of hand sanitizer also given out by Nexium.
It's the promotional products companies that appear to be the big loser this change. It looks like they will lose close to a billion dollars this year. Wow.
My take on this development is that the drug companies know that with our new administration will also come more rules and more enforcement of existing rules. By voluntarily stepping back from the line of what is currently allowed by law, they may be able to avoid having actual regulation that says they can no long produce these types of items. If branded tchotchkes become the exception rather than the norm maybe the practice can remain viable. I also wonder if this gives the pharma companies an idea way to step back from a practice that is now expected but may not be overly effective. The give-a-way programs may no longer work well since they are so heavily used. By stepping back from this and using it more selectively, the value of those programs may be enhanced.
Advertising and promotion of products is one of those areas that changes based both on regulation and current aesthetics. The majority of FDA warning letters happen because we all monitor each other's activity and turn competitors in when the step over the line. Although we all watch each other carefully sometimes by not turning in a competitor we open a practice that may come in handy later. This sort of voluntary activity signals to me a general pulling back on promotional practices and likely an upturn on making sure everyone playing by the same rules.
Not only are coming into a time where we all have to watch our bottom lines a bit more, it seems we're also in a time of tightening up bragging as well. Looks to me like 'moderation' is going to be a philosphy we will all be pushed to embrace in 2009.
Tags: Enforcement
