Biotech Marketing Response Certainly There

Biotech Marketing Response

Certainly there are some who feel that Natrecor is highly effective as a long-term treatment for heart failure patients. A few clinics have made extensive use of Natrecor for this purpose and one reports that its patients have seen decreases in hospitalization and increases in quality of life as a result of the treatments (Barrett & Carey, 2005). These results were anecdotal, though, not empirical. Scios was conducting trials at one point to evaluate the issue further but as of yet the FDA has not approved any use of the drug and this treatment remains off-label. Part of the problem in this case I suspect is that while it may well be a beneficial treatment, it also has higher health risks than other treatments. The government's specific interest may relate to Natrecor's higher cost, since most of the patients were on Medicare. If safer, cheaper treatments exist, the potential effectiveness of the off-label use may take a back seat.

The FDA has joined a pair of whistleblower (False Claims Act) suits right now, rather than launching their own action (U.S. DOJ, 2009). Class action suits are being compiled as well. As of now, it does not appear that individual executives or salespeople have been named in these suits. In looking at some of the other similar legal actions ongoing, it does not appear standard practice to target executives, but just the company, which can suffer fines in the hundreds of millions of dollars. A judgment of that size would hit the income statement, which is incentive enough for executives to curtail such marketing efforts.