Drugs for kids: “How to sell a disease”
Luc Hermann speaks about the marketing strategies of Big Pharma in selling drugs to children. Photo: Ray Mahlaka.
French journalist, Luc Hermann has made a career out of deconstructing “spin”.
Hermann, (@LucHermann) talked yesterday about how big pharmaceutical companies sell their drugs” at Power Reporting: The African Investigative Journalism Conference.
Hermann’s 90-minute CNN documentary: How to sell a disease investigates the multinational drug company, Pfizer, and how they managed to get doctors and reporters across the world to help them sell anti-depressant drugs to children.
Suicidal effects
His investigation started by looking into the case of a teenage boy in the US who committed suicide two days after taking the drug, Zoloft. Zoloft, which is an equivalent to the adult anti-depressant popularly known as Prozac, which is predominantly prescribed for the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
In launching the drug, Pfizer released statistics which showed that up to 200 000 children in France could possibly suffer from undiagnosed OCD. The statistics had the effect of causing alarm among parents and doctors who worried that they may have overlooked the signs of the disorder.
Hermann says, “In the press, Zoloft can be prescribed to kids as early as six years old.”
Playing with statistics
Pfizer’s statistics showed that one to two per cent of children are affected by OCD. Hermann says the disease makes basic functioning incredibly difficult for the sufferer. Children with OCD have difficulties to focus, have problems with anxiety and have obsessions with routines.
It makes it hard for them to learn and can make life very frustrating. These statistics allowed Pfizer to draw the conclusion that one child in every class in France could be affected by OCD.
The forced insider
The family of the boy who took his life after taking Zoloft took Pfizer to court. Their lawyer made contact with Dr David Healy, whom Hermann calls the “forced insider” in his documentary.
Healy was the key reviewer of data that found that Pfizer had noticed instances of suicidal tendencies by patients who took their anti-depressant drugs.
“If a child is diagnosed with OCD they will be hospitalised and treated under strict circumstances and then, yes, doctors will prescribe Zoloft or Prozac in order for kids to deal with their condition.
These decisions though are beyond the scope of the role of the general practitioner and if a prescription is issued at this point the patient should be carefully monited.
“Doctors will say that you have to monitor the patient for the first seven days of taking the drug, but no-one told the family of the boy this,” says Hermann.
Journalists get taken-in
Hermann’s investigations revealed that Pfizer targeted journalists and major media outlets who they invited to events and press related trips that were “quite appealing”.
The company fed information to reporters about the prevalence of the disease and the benefits of their drugs.
The Prime Time News (PTF1) channel in France aired a programme where they discussed how this disease affected children. “This programme was aired to about eight million people in France,” Hermann says.
None of the 25 journalists ever revealed that they were taken on an all expenses paid trip to Istanbul by Pfizer.
Hermann warns journalists that they should always be aware of how they are influenced and also of possible links between reporters and major companies.
Free-for-all drugs
Hermann ended his talk off by saying that six million children in the United States take these kinds of drugs, mostly Ritalin, for attention deficit disorder (ADD) and then Zoloft and Prozac. “What is most shocking is that some cases the schools have the power to prescribe these drugs, not only doctors.”
“These pharmaceutical companies have no idea how it affects children in the long run.” Hermann stresses that he wishes he did more to confront journalists who published articles endorsing the use of these drugs and who were effectively “spun” by Pfizers public relations team.
