The article is about pharma and the way its interests flit because of perceived commercial rather than clinical value. There are two phrases that should make you sit up.
- ‘Scientists were given incentives to meet milestones in the clinical trials,’
- ‘One precondition for success is a large salesforce’.
The first phrase, is scary. We already know how dishonest much of pharma is. We can manage well without more perverse incentives. Short term shareholder value wins over morality every time.
The second begs the question: if the evidence is good, why do you need to flog your medicine with advertising? A collection of data sheets — with citations — is all you need. And since most pharma spends more on advertising than research, here is a simple way to reduce drug costs. (The answer is of course, that advertising sells more than research — shame on us all).
Novartis cholesterol deal highlights mass-market opportunity | Financial Times