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Purdue pharma is the one company that really deserves the blame, for their indiscriminate marketing of OxyContin. Only one agency worked with them through that so this doesn't really apply to the pharma agency industry as a whole. Any new opioid manufacturer only has a chance of a new drug approval if they can introduce a formulation that will help deter abuse.
OP, sounds good. I've been in this business professionally for 15 years so not going to get in a debate about it and I too have family and friends who are MDs and researchers and scientists in biotech and my SO is a Dr. We can go on so not about one upping here. It's a complex multifaceted business with many flaws going all the way back to cost of medical school, too, and the health insurance industry (truly gross stuff). Your question was specific to how people feel about working on opioids - I haven't but as you pointed out, there's fast food and tons of other toxic shit being promoted by CPG
Pharma industry in US abuses laws, economics, ruin doctors and through that people. Never in my fucking life they’re getting my brain to market their products.
OP, how much do you know about pharma ad shops? I worked on adult vaccines education, on chronic autoimmune diseases, lifelong genetic disorders, premature babies therapies - all stuff I believe in
The “fast food is also bad” finger-pointing doesn’t answer the question it,avoids it @AD1
Tough question! I am in for this, never thought of it that way.
Yeah, The reason why pharma have so much money scares me a little. Of course CG also have roles in all sort of problems from forced labor to obesity and I do feel bad about working with some of this clients.
Agreed. For the most part, any pharma companies I've worked with are SUPER careful in how they represent themselves in advertising. The big ones are generally very very risk averse. But then, I've worked on ads for asthma, diabetes drugs, that sort of thing.
There is def blame to go around but the company that decided fentanyl should be prescribed for regular pain treatment needs to be burned to the fucking ground.
SP1, ftr, a company doesn't "decide" what a drug is prescribed for - they apply for that indication and the government has to review and approve it, so it's not a straight line / they're not alone in the blame
The Sackler family owns Purdue Pharm and is making billions. It’s repulsive.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/10/30/the-family-that-built-an-empire-of-pain/amp
Strategist2, no, it just points to a double standard. I already answered the question for myself. Note, I'm not defending pharma or saying in any way it's a great industry. I'm not American and I think US healthcare system is one of the cruelest. Pharma companies that operate within that industry are one of many players, no less of whom is the government itself. I'm equally happy to point out the animal cruelty and enormous harm to the environment and abuse of workers in the fast food or fashion or cosmetics industries. We can go on. Unless one of us quits and goes to help refugees in Syria or children starving in Africa, the whole thread is moot.
Anyone who worked on opioids is guilty.
AD1 right, fair point.
Personally, I hated my time in pharma for lots of reasons. Not all the clients were bad, but there were a few that definitely left a bad taste in my mouth.
Account1, maybe not much about ad shops but I came from a family of doctors and people that work with healthcare. And I even have relatives that worked with pfizer, sanofi and bayer. Aside from vaccines education, all those other therapies you have mentioned are commonly marked way up more than it should. (Hello martin shkreli, sanofi and lily) also another problem.
My point ☝️ was pharma co. ain't saints no matter what you believe in.
Agreed. And I already pointed that out. And I feel bad everytime I have a fast food brief.
OP, you say therapies are marked up more than they should be. We live in a free market economy - where the goal of a business is to make money. Pharma are businesses too.
If we as a society want to have a debate about whether pharma does have the same obligation to make money as every other biz, I am up for that. But meanwhile, let's not single out pharma for evil behavior.
To your first question - do I personally feel responsible? I say I feel as responsible for the opioid crisis as I do for all the people surviving cancer, AIDS and heart attacks.
Okay?
Senior Producer - Fentanyl is not approved for regular pain any where in the world, including the US. Nor has it ever been marketed as such. I have worked on a fentanyl brand that is only labeled for use in the most extreme breakthrough pain as a result of stage IV terminal cancer. End of life. Extremely specific marketing to make doctors aware of the true pain and suffering these patients face.
Any prescribing of a fentanyl product to anyone other than that is an unethical decision made by a physician. Doctors aren't gods, and many of the pill mill pain doctors are the ones to blame for many drugs getting to the wrong hands.
You can't demonize pharma for everything. This is a complex system. But yes for the record you can blame Purdue pharma for a lot of what we're dealing with today with opioids.
DDB you're statement is based on nothing.