PFIZER necesita...confies en ella.

Matthew Herper |
is a senior editor at Forbes

Drug companies are frequently viewed as villains -- and Pfizer is certainly no exception. Last year, it agreed to a $1.2 billion criminal fine, the largest ever paid by a company, for its marketing of the pain drug Bextra.

The world's largest drug giant, which reported a gangbuster quarterly earnings result today, is trying to repair its reputation partly through being more transparent. Like rivals Merck, Eli Lilly, and GlaxoSmithKline, it is disclosing how much it pays doctors for consulting and for speaking done as part of its marketing. It has also gone a step further, disclosing how much it pays researchers and their institutions for conducting clinical trials.

"I think it's really important that this industry has the full trust of the population," says Pfizer senior vice president Ian Read, in charge of marketing. "We're willing to do whatever is necessary to gain that trust. It is a key business driver of this industry."

"The farther we can go and the deeper we can go the better." He says he hopes the new disclosure standard will allow him too "close the gap between how I know I behave and how I am perceived to behave." The question is whether disclosure will lead people to remember the drug industry's impact on health, and not its missteps. (Ver)

La verdad es que tendrá que hacer méritos...