Word: pfizer
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...nearly two years, millions of Americans have seen television ads featuring artificial heart inventor Robert Jarvik touting the benefits of the cholesterol-lowering medication Lipitor. No longer. On Monday, Lipitor's maker, Pfizer, decided to pull the $139 million campaign after a Congressional committee raised questions about Jarvik's qualifications as pitchman...
...which we presented Dr. Jarvik in these ads has, unfortunately, led to misimpression and distractions," Pfizer said in a statement released Monday. "Going forward, we commit to ensuring there is greater clarity in our advertising regarding the presentation of spokespeople...
...medical advice as a practicing physician. "We chose ["Dr. Jarvik"] because he is a well respected heart expert, inventor of the Jarvik heart, and we thought it was appropriate because he is well respected in the area of cardiology and vascular research," Vanessa Aristede, director of corporate communications at Pfizer, told TIME. In defending his decision to become a spokesperson for Lipitor, Jarvik last month said in a statement on his company's website, "I do not practice clinical medicine and hence do not treat individual patients. My career is in medical science. I have the training, experience and medical...
...endorsing everything from diet aids to nutritional supplements. But Jarvik is recognized for his work in developing the artificial heart, and to a patient, his stature in the field undeniably lends credibility to every statement he makes about Lipitor. It's certainly a big part of the reason that Pfizer signed him to a two-year, $1.35 million contract...
...When products as serious as medications, which can have dangerous side effects, are marketed directly to the public, who should monitor the claims, and how? Bioethicist Katie Watson at Northwestern University notes that the blame for misleading ads such as Pfizer's doesn't always lie with one party. "We have an oil and water situation where we have our drug development and sales done on a free market model in the same way we sell cars and refrigerators," she says. "But our medical care is done on a fiduciary duty, privacy and trust model. We throw those two together...