Got a match? Pharmaceuticals.(Lessons for pharma from tobacco)

Economist (US), The, November, 2004

America's unpopular drug giants are offered advice from an unusual source

WHAT do you do when everyone hates you? That is the problem faced by America's pharmaceutical industry. Despite its successes in treating disease and extending longevity, soaring health-care costs and bumper profits mean that big drug firms are widely viewed as exploitative, and regarded almost as unfavourably as tobacco and oil firms (see chart). Last week, at a conference organised by The Economist in Philadelphia, the drug industry was offered some advice from an unlikely source: a tobacco firm. Steven ...