Why Drug Companies Promote Off-Label

The Pharma Marketing Blog has one of the best posts written in a long time about off-label drug company promotion. You can find it here.

"The market for ED drugs is not nearly what the drug marketers in these companies thought it would be (see "ED Drug Sales Limp")."

"Another piece of evidence I have that there may be more off-label promotion of ED drugs comes from the book "Selling Sickness." The author points out that a prominent urologist -- a paid consultant to Pfizer -- said he was a "strong believer" in taking Viagra on a daily basis to "prevent impotence."

"Several industry conferences are devoted to off-label promotion by pharmaceutical companies. The term "promotion," however, has now been dropped in favor of "usage" as in the "5th Annual Off-Label Usage Conference."

"Whenever the pressure is high to meet sales numbers -- especially to meet Wall Street expectations -- there will be a danger of crossing the line into illegal off-label promotion, even if it is called by another name."