Male Lifestyle Drug Marketers Think FDA's Proposed Study on Spousal DTC Influence is Bogus!

Back in December, 2014, I reported in Pharma Marketing News that the FDA was planning to study "Spousal Influence On Consumer Understanding Of And Response To Direct-To-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertisements" (see "Does Your Spouse Influence Your DTC Viewing Experience?").

At about the same time, the new ad for Viagra, which featured a sexy woman (no man), aired on TV (read "Oh Yeah, Baby! Show Me More!... Viagra TV Ads Like This. But Don't Let My FDA See It!").

Of course, I thought the FDA should study how wives (or significant other spousal equivalents) might influence their spouses' (i.e., husbands') response to THAT ad.

But, no, the FDA will be using asthma drug ads in their study. Huh?!

It appears that the FDA is using a benign drug category to get results that it may use against Viagra and other male/female enhancement drug ads. AbbVie and Eli Lilly -- two marketers of lifestyle-enhancing drugs for men -- recognize this ploy and have submitted comments to the FDA in an attempt to shoot down the study.

What's their beef?

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La Maladie du Grand Print Out: A Condition Abetted by Pharma Marketing & "Patient Centricity"

"Of course I was familiar, from my own practice, with the phenomenon of patients making lists, but I'd never known it had a name," says Suzanne Koven, M.D. in a NEJM piece titled "The Disease of the Little Paper".

"I confess that these lists sometimes irritate me, as they do many doctors."

The original term for this condition -- in French -- is "La Maladie du Petit Papier" and is defined as a condition in which “an exhaustive list of purported ailments — [is] carried around by a neurotic patient, often accompanied by extensive documentation of each bowel movement or sip of water.”

Dr. Koven pointed out that in recent years, the diagnosis was expanded to “la maladie du grand print out,” a nod to the indispensability of the Internet to the modern hypochondriac. I would expand it further: "la maladie des mobile et wearables."

I found this interesting because it's possible that online pharmaceutical marketing is a major cause of these maladies. In the pursuit of "patient centricity"pharma also may be driving a wedge between patients and their physicians.

How so?

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