The Business Ethics Blog

Wall Street Journal’s health blog: Merck CEO Calls On Pharma to Repair its ‘Trust Deficit’

To the applause of fellow drug-company officials today, Merck CEO Dick Clark told executives that the industry needs to fix its “trust deficit” with the public.

Industry leaders have complained privately about the public shellacking of drug makers, which have been criticized for the safety of drugs like Merck’s Vioxx that eventually were withdrawn, as well as for undisclosed payments to doctors and misleading advertising directly to consumers. The corporate leaders say the industry’s good works developing life-saving medicines have been unfairly overlooked in all the criticism.

Prescription for Pharma

No, you don’t need to remind us how much good you’re doing. We know, & we appreciate. Thanks.

Stop promoting off-label use.
Stop paying excessive “consulting” fees
stop paying excessive “speaking” fees
Stop getting slammed by FDA for advertising w/o sufficient attention to side-effects

Admittedly: regulatory compliance is hard in a highly-regulated industry