Patient-focused drug campaigns may exploit data, invade privacy

A Florida case of Prozac by mail may be an extreme example, but many physicians fear it heralds the future of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. July 29, 2002.

The woman, known in court papers only as S.K., kept her depression a secret from her employer, family and friends, fearing repercussions if the mental illness she managed with the use of antidepressants was revealed.

Then, earlier this year, her secret no longer seemed safe. She received through the mail a package containing a free sample of Prozac Weekly.

The envelope was from Walgreens and Co. It included a letter signed by members of the Holy Cross Medical Group, the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., practice that handles her care. Eli Lilly and Co., the drug's manufacturer, paid for the sample.

Last month, she filed a class action lawsuit alleging invasion of privacy, unfair trade practices and commercial exploitation of confidential medical information by all parties. She is also alleging that Walgreens and Eli Lilly were practicing medicine without a license. The Florida Attorney General is investigating.

It's unclear who initiated the chain of events that resulted in S.K. receiving a sample of fluoxetine hydrochloride, a drug for which she did not ask nor have a prescription. Her physicians did not return phone calls. Representatives for the national corporate offices of Walgreens and Eli Lilly say they are investigating but stress that sending samples of prescription drugs by mail is not corporate policy.

But this is an extreme example of what physicians say is an increasingly frustrating phenomenon. The direct-to-consumer advertising they have learned to tolerate is becoming direct-to-individual. Patients are targeted with marketing campaigns based on their medical records, often without their permission. [...]