Forest's Promotional Objective: Use CME to Sell Lexapro

We have known for some time that the actual purpose of industry-sponsored CME (continuing medical education) is to increase prescriptions of the supporter's product. But few will admit it. The ACCME says that it accredits only CME that is unbiased and objective, even though half of it is paid for by the pharmaceutical industry. Leading medical societies appear to be willing to fight to maintain their God-given right to industry funding of CME until the world ends.

Finally, a major drug company--Forest Laboratories--has confirmed that CME is, in fact, advertising.

In today's New York Times, Gardiner Harris describes a smoking gun document that outlines in stark fashion how Forest has created CME programs for physicians in order to increase market share for Lexapro. The document, entitled "Fiscal Year 2004 Marketing Plan," can be read in all its inglory here.

Here are a couple of my favorite excerpts.

"PROMOTIONAL OBJECTIVES

• Achieve first place in detail dollar share of voice in the SRI market
• Maintain SRI category leadership in number of journal ad inserts
• Maintain SRI category leadership in total number of medical education events (Including CME symposia, speaker programs, teleconferences, and peer selling programs.)
• Generate significant Lexapro specific news coverage to both consumers and healthcare
professionals
• Have Lexapro included in all depression/anxiety related round up articles/stories that
discuss treatment"

Yep, there it is, number three on their list of strategies: CME symposia. But like any successful company, Forest leaves nothing to chance. In order to make sure that Lexapro-friendly CME got in front of potential prescribers, they came up with a variety of tactics, such as:

"A reporter from publications like CNS News, Psych Times, and the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry will be sent to cover key Lexapro data presented at important medical meetings. Data from ADAA (Anxiety Disorders Association of America), APA (American Psychiatric Association), AAFP (American Academy of Family Physicians, and AAGP (American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry) will be reported in the journal as a CME supplement.

Quantity:4
Cost per unit:$75,000
Estimated Cost: $300,000"

In other words, rather than waiting for doctors to decide to write their own articles singing the praises of Lexapro, Forest decided to hire reporters from journals to cover the CME symposia they already paid for. Based on the reporting, ghostwriters would then scribble the articles, and plant some psychiatrists' names as authors. The articles would be packaged as "CME supplements" with the journals.

It's so much more...efficient this way!

There's more in this document, much more. Please give it a read, but I suggest you do so on an empty stomach.

Medscape--Brought to you by Lexapro

It's sad to watch a company selling its soul. Medscape used to be a source of reasonably trustworthy medical information with a few drug company ads thrown in to help pay the bills. Gradually, however, the promise of ever increasing riches became too alluring. It began selling disease-specific "resource centers" to the highest bidder (see my prior post here), earning millions from companies keen to control which articles are fed to doctors believing they are receiving medical education. At least these resource centers have a pretense of legitimacy, and if you dig around you can usually find something of value.

How things have changed. Today when I opened my email's inbox I received an email from Medscape. On the subject line: "Reasons to Choose Lexapro First." Eloquent in its simplicity. When I opened the email, I received nothing more than an advertisement for Lexapro (pasted above).

Yes, it appears that Medscape has found a new buyer for its Depression Resource Center. Kaching.