LANSING – In a move to increase consumer protection in Michigan and hold drug companies accountable, State Representative Steve Lindberg (D-Marquette) today announced a plan that requires drug companies to fully disclose how they spend their marketing money and bans lavish gifts such as extravagant trips and meals to doctors.
"While the big drug companies look to make another million, we're looking out for the health and well-being of Michigan's residents," Lindberg said. "The amount of money the drug industry spends on research and development pales in comparison to what they spend on marketing. By requiring drug companies to report how they spend their millions, we will increase transparency and openness, which could save lives."
The plan would:
- Require companies to report all drug advertising and marketing expenditures, including gifts to doctors and other health care workers.
- Require companies to report research and development expenditures.
- Ban lavish drug company gifts to doctors and limit gifts to $100 worth a year.
- Establish a searchable Web site that details drug companies' marketing expenses and gifts to doctors, which would be maintained by the Department of Community Health.
Wealthy drug companies spend more than $21 billion annually on marketing.[1] Merck, maker of the now-banned painkiller Vioxx, spent more than $160 million on an aggressive advertising campaign in 2000; as a result, sales of Vioxx quadrupled to $1.5 billion.[2] Vioxx may have caused heart attacks or cardiac deaths in up to 139,000 Americans, based on Merck's own studies, before it was pulled from shelves in 2004.[3]
"It's clear that the drug industry is more interested in profits than people," Lindberg said. "While seniors and lower-income residents living on fixed incomes are pinching pennies to pay for their prescription drugs, the wealthy drug companies are spending billions on marketing. By shining a light on how much big drug companies spend on their massive marketing campaigns, we will give our consumers important information that can help them make better decisions."