Drug marketing

Drug marketing

Even if it seems that the pharmaceutical industry presents itself in a different light the fact remains : it is not a charitable organisation. It consists of companies that strictly act according to points of views friendly to the market economy. Their aim is to gain the highest possible turnover and profits. So to increase the shareholder value the pharmaceutical industry actively intervenes in the health policy of a country. Its influence can be found on all levels – from trying to raise the drug turnover made by research companies, through to medical practitioners and end consumers. BUKO Pharma-Kampagne makes this influence public. It wants health policy to have one high principle: the well-being of the patients.

Manipulation instead of information

Let’s have a look at a US advertisement for AIDS drugs: People suffering from AIDS are shown as mountain climbers and javelin throwers with tensed muscles – the advertisement suggests an image of anti-retroviral therapy which has nothing in common with reality. The playing down of this epidemic has its effects: The Health Department of San Francisco proved in a study that young people become less cautious due to this advertisement, and that they have ‘safer sex’ less often.

In Europe this kind of advertisement (direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription-only drugs - DTCA) is forbidden. On demand of the pharmaceutical industry the European Commission planned to annul this ban on DTCA. By means of intensive public relations work and in collaboration with other organisations BUKO Pharma-Kampagne could successfully prevent the cancellation of this advertisement ban. Both the German Bundestag as well as the European Parliament refused the industry-friendly draft of the EC Comission.

You can get more information on the impact of DTCA clicking on BUKO Pharma-News DTCA 2001 [PDF/ 557 kB]

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