[e-drug] CNN to reveal when guests promote drugs for companies

[Kirsten Myhr <myhr@online.no>]

E-drug: CNN to reveal when guests promote drugs for companies
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Just back from this year's international conference on pharmacoepidemiology
where all lecturers this year had to declare conflicts of interest, a major
positive step! But there are obviously other ways of promoting ones products
and marketing activities take on new forms continuously - this is the
latest. See also www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/325/7358/286.  Copied as fair
use.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/23/business/media/23DRUG.html?tntemail1=&page
wanted=print&position=top
August 23, 2002
CNN to Reveal When Guests Promote Drugs for Companies
By MELODY PETERSEN

fter learning that some celebrities who talked on its news programs about
their health problems were being paid by drug companies, CNN has issued a
new policy and will tell viewers about the stars' financial ties to
corporations.

CNN will ask celebrities who want to talk about a medical issue whether they
are being paid by a company, the network said. If so, the financial tie will
be disclosed during the interview, CNN said.

Other news programs ? including the "Today" show on NBC, "Good Morning
America" on ABC and "The Early Show" on CBS ? say that they have also become
more careful after they learned that some Hollywood celebrities they had
interviewed, including stars like Lauren Bacall and Kathleen Turner, had
been paid to help promote drugs or other medical products on their programs.

Even a Hollywood agent who has benefited by working to link celebrities with
drug companies says some of the practices have gone too far.

"The television networks and media people are not letting the public know
what the connections are, which I don't think is great journalism," said
Barry M. Greenberg, the president of Celebrity Connection in Los Angeles. "I
think we all need to be clearer."

In the last year or so, dozens of movie, television and music stars, as well
as sports celebrities, who are paid by drug and medical device companies,
have appeared on talk shows and morning news programs to discuss ailments
they or people close to them have. They often mention the drugs or other
medical products by brand name without disclosing their ties to the company.

On Aug. 11, the same day that The New York Times published a report about
the practice, CNN broadcast an interview with Ms. Turner, one of the
company-paid celebrities, who discussed her battle with rheumatoid
arthritis.

Ms. Turner is being paid by Amgen and Wyeth, the two companies that sell the
drug Enbrel, to talk about her condition. She did not mention the drug by
name in the CNN interview.

The two drug companies say they are trying to raise awareness about the
disease and persuade people to see their doctors.

CNN issued its new policy the day after its interview with Ms. Turner.

"In light of recent attention involving paid celebrity endorsements, CNN
became aware that some celebrities we interviewed about their health
problems might be paid," said Sarah Cohn, a CNN spokeswoman. "We decided it
was important for our viewers to be aware of that as part of any future
interviews or features about a celebrity."

Executives at CBS say they also may have overlooked some celebrities' ties
to medical companies.

"This is a brand new thing," said Marcy McGinnis, the senior vice president
in charge of news coverage at CBS News.

Ms. McGinnis said producers at CBS had not looked into the financial ties of
the rock singer Ann Wilson of the band Heart, to Inamed, a company that
makes a medical device for the obese. A July 18 segment on "The Early Show"
featured the musician and her doctor, Brian B. Quebbemann.

"The Early Show" ran part of a taped interview with Ms. Wilson where she
said Inamed's Lap-band, a silicon band that is fastened around the stomach
during surgery, was "a beautifully simple idea." Dr. Quebbemann performed
the Lap-band surgery on Ms. Wilson in January.

Inamed, through Spotlight Health, a firm that specializes in creating
celebrity marketing campaigns for medical companies, paid Ms. Wilson to
promote the Lap-band.

Dr. Quebbemann promotes the Lap-band on his Web site and issued a news
release on the day he appeared on "The Early Show," saying he hoped to
perform the procedure on "many other patients."

At the time, Ms. McGinnis said, "it would not have occurred to us to even
ask" about the singer's ties to Inamed.

>From now on, she said, CBS will ask celebrities before the interview about
their corporate connections and disclose them in the interview.

"It is another thing to add to the policy guide," Ms. McGinnis said.

Douglas Trigg, a spokesman for Inamed, said the company used Ms. Wilson in
the campaign because "she wanted to talk about her struggle." Ms. Wilson and
Dr. Quebbemann could not be reached for comment.

At ABC, Lisa Finkel, a spokeswoman for "Good Morning America," said that
more than one producer was now asking the celebrities or the people
representing them about any corporate ties before each interview.

"We've become much more vigilant," Ms. Finkel said.

One ABC official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that after Ms.
Turner promoted a Web site used by Amgen and Wyeth to market Enbrel during a
Feb. 19 interview with Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America," producers
began giving the show's hosts more information about medications before any
interview. In that way, if a celebrity they were interviewing began
promoting a product, the host could provide a more balanced point of view
for viewers, the official said.

In recent months, some drug companies and their advertising agencies have
developed new tactics, the executive said.

About a month after the interview with Ms. Turner, people representing Peggy
Fleming, the Olympic gold medal skater, asked ABC whether she could appear
on the show to talk about cholesterol and heart disease.

"Our producers asked if this was a drug pitch," the official said, and were
told that it was not.

But near the beginning of the interview, Ms. Fleming said, "My doctor has
put me on Lipitor and my cholesterol has dropped dramatically."

The show's co-host, Elizabeth Vargas, quickly responded, saying there were
"plenty of drugs that you can use besides Lipitor," including Zocor and
Pravachol. But by then Lipitor, which is made by Pfizer, had received an
effective marketing plug.

Ms. Fleming told the audience she was working with a pharmaceutical company
but did not say specifically that it was Pfizer.

Pfizer said it had made it clear to ABC that Ms. Fleming was working to
promote Lipitor. "It was clearly stated to a producer," said Vanessa
McGowan, a Pfizer spokeswoman.

Susan Lipton, Ms. Fleming's agent, said the skater wanted to tell people how
to lower cholesterol because heart disease had killed her father and sister.

"It is something that is near and dear to her," Ms. Lipton said. "Peggy
would never endorse a product that she does not take."

Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company




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