Americans Are Finally Starting to Catch on to Deceptive Marketing
A nationwide survey indicates that there are significant differences between the public's view of pharmaceutical companies and the industry's perception of itself. These differences have caused the pharmaceutical industry to lose the trust of many.
The survey asked questions of consumers, physicians, health insurers, researchers and policymakers. The survey found that:
More than 60 percent of industry stakeholders believe drug companies manipulate or suppress negative clinical trials to maximize sales.
Almost all the consumers surveyed (94 percent) and most stakeholders (81 percent) feel drug companies promote their products far too aggressively when it comes to unapproved uses.
Consumers are split roughly evenly between believing that pharmaceutical companies consider important unmet medical needs when deciding to develop a new drug (55 percent) versus believing that they tend to develop "me-too" and "lifestyle" drugs with the greatest sales potential (45 percent).
Outsourcing-Pharma.com January 11, 2007
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