Logo Parentis

If you have ever thought it odd that your physican wrote your prescription on a pen inscribed with the very logo of the company whose drug he or she was prescribing, you are not alone. Now, the

In response, SMDC employees turned in 18,700 items, including Nexavar pens, Combivir note pads, Vioxx mouse pads, Advair and Levitra clipboards, a disembodied stuffed nose from Allegra that exclaims, "That's snot funny," clocks, mugs, surgical caps, calculators, tape dispensers, and a stress-relieving squeeze toy made to look like a red blood cell.

            Not surprisingly, BigPharma is not pleased that its sales representatives have to cease such back-door direct to patient marketing techniques. “This is the first time I've ever heard of a systematic round-up of pens," said Ken Johnson, senior vice president of Washington, D.C.-based Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. "Clearly there's a marketing backlash we've seen in a number of states. But this is a bit draconian."

          Not according to Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of health research for Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group in Washington: "A hundred thousand a year is nickels and dimes compared to the savings patients will experience when they aren't prescribed the most expensive drugs inappropriately. All this stuff that's handed out is really influence peddling. It's legalized bribery."

Alan Milstein