Dr. Robert Jarvik is the inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, right? You know that because he’s the pitch-man for Lipitor, a heavily advertised cholesterol drug. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why inventing an artificial heart qualifies the man to pitch a drug?
From Reuters (emphasis ours)
A U.S. House of Representatives committee said on Monday it was probing Pfizer Inc (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) advertisements that feature heart specialist Robert Jarvik pitching its blockbuster cholesterol drug Lipitor.Democrats on the House Energy & Commerce Committee said they were worried the widely seen commercials may mislead consumers. The probe is part of an investigation into celebrity endorsements of prescription medications, the lawmakers said.
“We are concerned that consumers may misinterpret the health claims of a prescription drug promoted in a direct-to-consumer advertisement utilizing a celebrity physician,” top committee Democrats said in a letter to Pfizer.
The letter also said the lawmakers were “concerned that Dr. Jarvik’s qualifications may be misinterpreted in this advertisement campaign given that he may not be a practicing physician with a valid license in any state.“
Really? No license to practice medicine? The WSJ Health Blog explains:
NBC’s science guru Robert Bazell wrote last year that while Jarvik is an M.D., he doesn’t have “the strongest credentials.” His grades as an undergrad at Syracuse University weren’t good enough for U.S. med school, so he attended the University of Bologna in Italy, leaving after two years. In 1976, Jarvik graduated from the University of Utah’s med school, but he never did an internship or practiced medicine, Bazell wrote.
…and of course here’s Pfizer’s response:
Dr. Jarvik is a respected health care professional and heart expert. Dr. Jarvik, inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, knows how imperative it is for patients to do everything they can to keep their heart working well. Furthermore, the advertising advises consumers to speak to their physicians about their heart health. The communication in the advertising helps educate consumers that it is important to keep the heart healthy including, if necessary, using medications that have been proven to maintain heart health.
That’s all well and good, but can someone explain why Sally Field is qualified to shill Boniva? Is it because she has bones?
Congress to Pfizer: Why is Robert Jarvik the Lipitor Man? [WSJ Health Blog]
U.S. House panel says probing Pfizer Lipitor ads [Reuters]
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Why is Bob Dole qualified to pitch Viagra?
Why is Chuck Norris qualified to….
Nevermind.
Why is Kirstie Allie qualified to hawk Jenny Craig?
Who do we see on TV pitching most drugs? The vast majority are actors.
@B: Because he’s a womanizer
@B: Too funny.
Oh I don’t know. How many Cardiologists have invented an artificial heart?
As for Sally Fields I love the part where she laments that her friend “has to set aside one day a week” to take the competitors brand. I picture her friend waking at 6:00 AM just sitting around, not able to do anything but stare at a small white tablet set on her table next to a glass of water. Should I take it at 11:00? Noon? 1:00? she asks herself……
I have been complaining about this commercial for a long time. There is some question to the validity of cholesterol/statin research (mercola talks about it: [search.mercola.com]) to begin with and it always irritated me to no end that they put Jarvik on the commercial.
@topgun: Yeah, same thought I’d had…IT’S JUST A PILL NOT A FRIGGIN ORDEAL
Why is a Puma qualified to pitch Cheetos?
@GitEmSteveDave:
Because Kirstie shrunk that giant ass of hers to something a bit more hitable? (sexist but true).
I don’t know if Jenny Craig is good or not. Most of these celebutards barely finished HS and are telling us how to live and what drugs to take…
He says
“I take it”
“Lipitor is FDA approved”
“Ask your doctor”, etc.
He’s not pretending to be an expert on this drug.
I think the bigger question is: Why are people who aren’t doctors qualified to make decisions about what prescription medication they require? And if the answer is “They aren’t”, then why is prescription medication being marketed to them at all?
Why is a lizard qualified to pitch car insurance? And why does it have a cockney accent?
@CaptainConsumer: Jeez, he’s a cheetah! Wearing sunglasses! Get it – CHEE-tah? Like CHEE-tos?! Sheesh, sometimes I think you people just aren’t paying enough attention.
Have you EVER seen a puma eating cheetos? Of course not. That’s just silly.
@CaptainConsumer: Isn’t it Chester Cheetah?
@copious28: Mercola isn’t the most widely respected/reputable doctor himself. He makes a lot of claims that are utter nonsense, but he sure does sell an overly expensive product on his site to address those concerns!
@JulesWinnfield: I liked it when he just asked people to stop calling him, and then licked his eyeball.
If people buy something based on someone famous then they deserve to be mislead. I can understand teenagers falling for this crap, but last time I checked, teenager’s don’t have bad cholesterol…
Way to stick to what is important, congress. How about you cut it out with the inquiries into business practices and start with the inquiries into GOVERNMENT practices??
@GitEmSteveDave: Is that what that is? OK, why is a Cheetah qualified to pitch Cheetos? What ARE his qualifications?
@CaptainConsumer: lol…burned.
Seriously, if anyone listens to an AD to tell them what medication they should be on, then they deserve whatever they get. One’s surprised they have enough brain function to put on foot in front of the other, nevermind make medical decisions.
@bradanomics: Can’t they do both?
A shill is a shill. It matters not what the qualifications are. If you’re watching an ad, someone is trying to sell you something.
If the current surgeon general says something, on behalf of the office, I’ll listen and take it seriously – but if it’s a well lit actor/doctor/lizard walking around a CG fantasyland talking in vague terms about a drug? Yeah. Shill. Ad. Ignore.
There’s a difference between a lizard pitching insurance and a guy that’s a doctor, thus giving the impression that he’s a practicing physician qualified to give out medical advice, pitching heart medicine. As someone else stated, he barely made it through med school, and has never actually worked as a physician. If you can’t see the difference in the two I suggest you go stick a fork in a toaster.
Oh, and he didn’t quite invent the artificial heart, more-so took someone else’s idea and made some changes and called it his own.
@B: Because Bob Dole speaks in the third person. Bob Dole would never say “I endorse this product”, he would say “Bob Dole says Bob Dole endorses this product”.
He’s so funny, and I think part of it is that he can somehow play his own straight man.
@CaptainConsumer: When I asked him what his qualifications were on cheetos.com, he said he would have to get back to me. Clearly that bastard is hiding something.
Your first problem is “qualified” and “shill” in the same sentence.
Have you ever noticed that Robert Jarvik never blinks EVER!
I heard Pfizer wanted to get infomercial pitchman Billy Mays, but he was afraid that Lipitor might actually work.
Why do so many people have the attitude of “if ____ can be fooled by _______ than they deserve to get ______”? I’m sorry but I don’t think that just because somebody is an idiot means they deserve to be mislead.
The reps in the House going after Pfizer are from Michigan, so I suspect this is a little revenge for the company laying off staff and moving out of state from their Ann Arbor comlpex.
The Jarvik Lipitor ads always seemed like a poor idea to me. This is the one guy in the planet who, if Lipitor doesn’t fix his cholesterol and he has a heart attack, already has a replacement heart on reserve.
@copious28: You’re basing your opinions on studies by Mercola? really? I had a friend who used to work for him and some of the stories she told were just crazy stupid. Like how he believes that root canals lead to heart attacks and arthritis ([www.mercola.com]). I’d listen to Jarvik over him any day.
Great that congress is wasting time asking these idiotic questions! Why is the congress qualified to ask Pfizer these stupid questions?
@noquarter:
Apparently, you as a patient are supposed to approach your doctor with your drug recommendation. And because you express a preference, your doctor is supposed to feel compelled to prescribe that drug if appropiate.
Not me. If I have insomnia, I’m going to ask my doctor what he recommends. That’s why I pay him.
three words: argument by authority
Before this news came out, I personally was seriously interpreting Dr. Jarvik as giving a professional medical opinion based on expertise in cardiology in these ads. Actors and Bob Dole don’t give the impression of being a physician giving medical advice as experts. They’re just spokespersons reading a script. I would expect Dr. Jarvik to, while still reciting the company line for money, be concurring as a medical expert. It’s rather upsetting that his credentials aren’t such that actually prescribe medicine [IIRC, he says in the ads that recommends Lipitor to his patients, who he apparently is qualified to treat in any way, but I could be wrong about that.]
@deweydecimated: ROFL!
@B:
Bill Clinton turned them down?
OK, so he’s an MD, but the Wall Street Journal didn’t think he had a very strong resume, and wishes he had a better GPA? WTF?
He’s a paid spokesman for a drug company. Nobody is going to see a commercial and think they are getting professional medical advice as if they had gone to their own doctor. Celebrities and professionals appear in product commercials all of the time — I don’t see what the problem is here.
What about other commercials that just show some paid actor wearing a white coat and stethoscope?
Given that you cannot get the drug without talking to your OWN physician.. who cares what is on the television? Your doctor won’t prescribe Lipitor if he feels it’s bad for you. I am quite certain he can do without the malpractice lawsuit.
He’ll prescribe Lipitor if it’s acceptable for you and if Pfizer has been in the office lately. Otherwise you’re getting Crestor, Maxtor, Voltron, or some other stupidly named chemical.
Congress is investigating this because in order to do so there will need to be serious discussions heard in various territories over expensive meals that are paid for by the pharmaceuticals and in the end no one cares.
Didn’t Jarvik do a fictitious ad in Robocop? (Googles) Yes, yes they did (first paragraph).
Why is Bug (Jay Underwood) qualified to pitch Advil?
@sir_eccles: Side effects may include…
@CaptainConsumer: He’s a cheetah not a puma. Chester the Cheetah.
@nutrigm:
I agree
Congressman: Mr Pfizer, what’s your favorite color? and I understand you run ads, now please tell us why you run these ads?
Pzizer: Well we are to blue, as in Viagra, and we run ads because we are selling things. next question.
This of course ignores the fact that obvious answer is because the FDA lifted the restrictions on direct to consumer advertising. and it works (direct to consumer advertising) it can turn a mediocre drug into a block buster –
(complete non sequitur, but the Sally Field comment made me think of it)
My only regret… is that I have… BONEITIS!
Paul Winchell, the voice of Tigger, Gargamel from the Smurfs, and Sam-I-am was the inventor of a very artificial heart (he held the patent and everything).
It’s a shame he’s dead, or they could have gotten him to do it. Who wouldn’t want a drug that Tigger approved of?
He also invented the disposable razor & a huge number of other products. More on Paul Winchell & his inventions: [web.mit.edu]
@mindshadow:
You do know what they call the person who graduates last in his class from med school, don’t you?
@deweydecimated: I agree. I always thought, he’s a heart doctor and he doesn’t know how to take care of his heart enough he has to take a drug? I’m not listening to him.