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

[Edrug <e-drug@usa.healthnet.org>]

(Copied from Edrug. Thanks??..SS)


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

after 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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