[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=7SY2YDwUMP8] I see these Lipitor commercials all the time. The strength of this commercial and the reason why it breaks through the static of all the pharmaceutical ads is because of its spokesperson Dr. Robert Jarvik, inventor of the artificial heart. That's quite a credential. He gives the ad validity and authenticity. Well, some are questioning his role as a pitch man, and more importantly rekindles the ongoing debate about the ethics of directly advertising serious prescription drugs to the layperson consumer. And now Congress is taking a closer look.
Some of the questions may involve his credentials. Even though Dr. Jarvik holds a medical degree, for example, he is not a cardiologist and is not licensed to practice medicine. So what, critics ask, qualifies him to recommend Lipitor on television — even if, as he says in some of the ads, he takes the drug himself?
And, for that matter, what qualifies him to pose as a rowing enthusiast? As it turns out, Dr. Jarvik, 61, does not actually practice the sport. The ad agency hired a stunt double for the sculling scenes.
“He’s about as much an outdoorsman as Woody Allen,” said a longtime collaborator, Dr. O. H. Frazier of the Texas Heart Institute. “He can’t row.”
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce is looking into when and why Dr. Jarvik began taking Lipitor and whether the advertisements give the public a false impression, according to John D. Dingell, the Michigan Democrat who is the committee’s chairman.
I think pharmaceutical companies should have every right to advertise like any other consumer company, however maybe some regulatory oversight in some capacity is legitimate.