George W. Merck once said: “We never try to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear.” The statement was made more than 60 years ago and it should still be applicable today. But the market is changing, and it challenges the dynamics of ethical marketing.
A large number of pharmaceutical companies, mostly those who emerged from the public’s clamor for “cheaper” medicines, have engaged in the trading of essential drugs. They have implemented a pushing campaign wherein they have bypassed the physicians in terms of decision making on what a patient should or shouldn’t take for their illness. This has led to self-medication and eventually substance abuse or overdose. No wonder most bacteria are immune to present-day antibiotics.
Ethical marketing is a factual and truthful representation of a drug, delivered exclusively to healthcare decision makers: the physicians. The pharmaceutical industry faces challenges with respect to ethical marketing and other promotional practices. The conflict of commercial interests with adherence to ethical practices has been a subject of much deliberation. The degree of concerns and issues varies depending on the laws of various markets. Responsible promotional communication informs healthcare professionals and their patients about the benefits and risks of new treatments for diseases.
In the Philippines, there are laws that govern how companies market their products to physicians and one such provision coming from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discourages misrepresentation or over claiming and such violation (yes, even done by Med Reps) carry stiff penalties. There is also an organization that monitors industry practices and that is PHAP.
The Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines or PHAP is an organization of select local and multinational companies that engage in active promotion of medicines. Monitoring of members or non-member’s marketing practices is rigorously monitored by PHAP. Unethical practices in marketing are reported by the member’s themselves to PHAP as well as the Philippine FDA. PHAP had also provided specific marketing guidelines that are embraced by its members.
PHAP also launched the Medical Representative Accreditation Program (MRAP) to enable Medical Representatives to be accredited professionally and to establish the acceptable standard for professional competencies, including training on ethical marketing practices. The MRAP accreditation allows the Medical Representative to be a competent individual who has a deeper understanding of the disease and the products and bringing it to the needs of the physicians and their patients.
