3. Marketing spend is a contested area, as the industry is keen to play it down. I recommend the following paper as it’s open access and offers a summary figure, methods from which it was derived, and a critical discussion of other estimates: Gagnon M¬A, Lexchin J. The Cost of Pushing Pills: A New Estimate of Pharmaceutical Promotion Expenditures in the United States. PLoS Med. 2008 Jan 3;5(1):e1.
4. Gilbody S, Wilson P, Watt I. Benefits and harms of direct to consumer advertising: a systematic review. Quality and Safety in Health Care. 2005;14(4):246-50.
5. Kravitz RL, Epstein RM, Feldman MD, Franz CE, Azari R, Wilkes MS, et al. Influence of patients’ requests for direct-toconsumer advertised antidepressants: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2005 Apr 27;293(16):1995–2002.
6. Iizuka T. What Explains the Use of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs? The Journal of Industrial Economics. 2004;52(3):349-79.
7. NICE. CG17 Dyspepsia: full guideline [Internet]. [cited 2011 Jan 4]. Available from: http://guidance.nice.org.uk/CG17/Guidance/pdf/English.
8. Law MR, Soumerai SB, Adams AS, Majumdar SR. Costs and Consequences of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Clopidogrel in Medicaid. Arch Intern Med. 2009 Nov 23;169(21): 1969-74.
9. I first saw the Reynolds, Bacall, Lowe and Serial Mom examples in: Petersen M, p32: Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs. Picador; 2009.
10. Eisenberg D. It’s an Ad, Ad, Ad World. Time [Internet]. 2002 Aug 26 [cited 2012 Mar 25]; Available from: http://www.time. com/ time/magazine/article/0,9171,344045,00.html
11. Stars Profit From Covert Drug Pitches CBS News [Internet]. [cited 2012 Mar 25]. Available from: http://www.cbsnews.com/ 2100-207_162-520196.html
12. Ibid.
13. Alzheimer’s Campaign Piques Public and Media Interest:: PR News May 21, 2001. Available from: http://www.prnewsonline. com/news/4782.html
14. Keidan J. Sucked into the Herceptin maelstrom. BMJ. 2007 Jan 6;334(7583):18.
15. Wilson PM, Booth AM, Eastwood A, Watt IS. Deconstructing Media Coverage of Trastuzumab (Herceptin): An Analysis of National Newspaper Coverage. J R Soc Med. 2008 Mar 1;101(3):125-32.
16. The selling of a wonder drug Science The Guardian [Internet]. [cited 2012 Mar 26]. Available from: http://www. guardian.co.uk/ science/2006/mar/29/medicineandhealth.health
17. Ibid.
18. To be absolutely clear, there is no evidence that a company was involved in promoting Barbara Moss to the media. This case simply illustrates the melodramatic ineptitude of coverage for new cancer drugs.
19. Castren E. Is mood chemistry? Nature Reviews Neuroscience. 2005 Mar 1;6(3):241-6.
20. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review (4/2/07).
21. Lacasse JR, Leo J. Serotonin and Depression: A Disconnect between the Advertisements and the Scientific Literature. PLoS Med. 2005 Nov 8;2(12):e392.
22. Petersen M, p102: Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs. Picador; 2009.
23. Ibid.
24. Leo J, Lacasse J. The Media and the Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression. Society. 2008 Feb 19;45(1):35–45.
25. The test has now been altered; the original description is preserved online at: WebMD’s Depression Test Has Only One (Sponsored) Answer: You’re ‘At Risk’ — CBS News [Internet]. [cited 2012 Mar 26]. Available from: http://www.cbsnews. com/8301-505123_162-42844266/webmds-depression-test-hasonly-one-sponsored-answer-youre-atrisk/?tag=bnetdomain
26. Ebeling M. ‘Get with the Program!’: Pharmaceutical marketing, symptom checklists and self-diagnosis. Social Science& Medicine. 2011 Sep;73(6):825-32.
27. Laumann EO, Paik A, Rosen RC. Sexual Dysfunction in the United States Prevalence and Predictors. JAMA. 1999 Feb 10;281(6):537-44.
28. THE NATION: BETTER LOVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY; Sure, We’ve Got a Pill for That New York Times [Internet]. [cited 2012 Mar 27]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/14/ weekinreview/thenation-better-loving-through-chemistry-sure-weve-got-a-pill-for-that.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.
29. Moynihan R. The making of a disease: female sexual dysfunction. BMJ. 2003;326(7379):45–47.
30. Moynihan R. Company launches campaign to ‘counter’ BMJ claims. BMJ. 2003 Jan 18;326(7381):120.
31. Tiefer L. Female Sexual Dysfunction: A Case Study of Disease Mongering and Activist Resistance. PLoS Med. 2006 Apr 11;3(4):e178.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
34. Testosterone Patches for Female Sexual Dysfunction. DTB. 2009 Mar 1;47(3):30-4.
35. Durand M. Pharma’s Advocacy Dance [Internet]. Successful Product Manager’s Handbook. 2006 [cited 2012 Mar 26]. Available from: http://www.pharmexec.com/pharmexec/ Articles/Pharmas-Advocacy-Dance/ArticleStandard/Article/ detail/377999.
36. 11 August 2010 HAI Europe Research Article Patient& Consumer Organisations at the EMA: Financial Disclosure& Transparency. Written by Katrina Perehudoff and Teresa Leonardo Alves. 11 August 2010 HAI Europe Factsheet Patient& Consumer Organisations at the EMA: Financial Disclosure& Transparency.
37. HAI. The Patient& Consumer Voice and Pharmaceutical Industry Sponsorship [Internet]. [cited 2012 Mar 26]. Available from: http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/m/abstract/Js17767en/
38.‘Drug firms bankroll attacks on NHS’ Independent, 1 October 2008.
39.‘Analysis: Are patient protests being manipulated?’ Independent, 1 October 2008.
40. Health chief attacks drug giants over huge profits UK news The Observer [Internet]. [cited 2012 Mar 26]. Available from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/17/pharmaceuticals. nhs.
41. Spurling GK, Mansfield PR, Montgomery BD, Lexchin J, Doust J, Othman N, et al. Information from Pharmaceutical Companies and the Quality, Quantity, and Cost of Physicians’ Prescribing: A Systematic Review. PLoS Med. 2010 Oct 19;7(10):e1000352.
42. Azoulay P. Do pharmaceutical sales respond to scientific evidence? Journal of Economics& Management Strategy. 2002;11(4): 551-94.
43. Heimans L, van Hylckama Vlieg A, Dekker FW. Are claims of advertisements in medical journals supported by RCTs? Neth J Med. 2010 Jan;68(1):46-9.
44. Villanueva P, Peiro S, Librero J, Pereiro I. Accuracy of pharmaceutical advertisements in medical journals. The Lancet. 2003 Jan;361(9351):27–32.
45. Spielmans GI, Thielges SA, Dent AL, Greenberg RP. The accuracy of psychiatric medication advertisements in medical journals. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis. 2008 Apr;196(4):267-73.
46. Van Winkelen P, van Denderen JS, Vossen CY, Huizinga TWJ, Dekker FW, for the SEDUCE study group. How evidence-based are advertisements in journals regarding the subspecialty of rheumatology? Rheumatology. 2006 Sep 1;45(9):1154-7.
47. Othman N, Vitry A, Roughead EE. Quality of Pharmaceutical Advertisements in Medical Journals: A Systematic Review. PLoS ONE. 2009 Jul 22;4(7):e6350.
48. Gibson L. UK government fails to tackle weaknesses in drug industry. BMJ. 2005 Sep 10;331(7516):534-40.
49. Wilkes MS, Kravitz RL. Policies, practices, and attitudes of North American medical journal editors. J Gen Intern Med. 1995 Aug;10(8):443-50.
50. Via: Cooper RJ, Schriger DL, Wallace RC, Mikulich VJ, Wilkes MS. The Quantity and Quality of Scientific Graphs in Pharmaceutical Advertisements. J Gen Intern Med. 2003 Apr;18(4):294-7. ‘Polling of the audience occurred as part of the discussion of the oral presentation of this abstract’. FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON PEER REVIEW [Internet]. Available from: http://www.amaassn.org/public/peer/prc_program2001.htm#ABSTRACTS.
51. You might also enjoy some of the books written by retired drug reps, such as: Reidy J. Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman. 1st ed. Andrews McMeel Publishing; 2005.
