Since coming under Congressional scrutiny, Pfizer recently pulled the “Jarvik-Lipitor” ad campaign featuring Dr. Robert Jarvik (inventor of the “Jarvik” artificial heart) as a spokesperson for its cholesterol reducing drug Lipitor. Briefly, Lipitor is the #1 selling drug in the world and is losing market share to cheaper generics. Pfizer signed Jarvik to a 2-year deal to help protect their Lipitor franchise. At the “heart” of the issue is that the ads are misleading consumers. Most importantly, Dr. Jarvik is not a cardiologist nor is he licensed to practice medicine (can’t write prescriptions) and they use a body double of him being “active” (for a rowing scene). Yet the ad depicts him dispensing “credible” medical advice for an expensive and important drug (to Pfizer and people with high cholesterol). So, is Pfizer behaving unethically in trying to protect a blockbuster drug by capitalizing on the notoriety of a famous doctor or is this just reading too much into an advertisement where Jarvik is expressing his personal experience and recommends you to discuss Lipitor with your doctor. Isn’t this just like the many other ads showing “famous” people recommending a product (Jenny Craig, AAMCO, Gatorade, etc)? I feel that Pfizer has behaved responsibly in trying to promote their product but are being wrongly accused or questioned for intentional wrong-doing to sell expensive drugs…you know, the typical unethical behavior exhibited by many “Big Pharma” companies. Any thought/comments?
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