News Reports Donate How You Can Help Results About MASSPIRG MASSPIRG Education Fund Consumer Resources In The State House Internships JOBS

ISSUES

Home » How You Can Help » Online Action Center » Health Care & Prescription Drugs » Other Actions

Tell Gov.Patrick to stand up to Big Pharma

Big Pharma is a big spender.

They spent $8.2 billion marketing their drugs last year.

And they don't exactly scrimp when it comes to hiring lobbyists to represent their interests on Beacon Hill, either.

Maybe that's why they're so upset that things didn't go their way last week, when the Legislature voted for the Health Care Cost Control Bill, which included reforms to curb drug companies' over-the-top marketing gimmicks.

But Big Pharma isn’t about to back down. They've already set their sights on the one person they think might overturn the decision: Gov. Deval Patrick.

Tell Gov. Patrick to stand up to the pressure and sign the Legislature's Health Care Cost Control Bill into law:

Follow these 3 easy steps to help out.
1. Look over the message below, and feel free to add your own comments. Using your own words makes the message more meaningful.
2. Sign the letter by filling in the form below. We will not share your information with anyone else.
3. Click the button to send your message.

Letter	Dear Governor Patrick, Please sign the Health Care Cost Control to enhance transparency, efficiency, and cost-containment in our health care system. The bill will begin to rein in aggressive and inappropriate marketing tactics by drug companies and medical device companies. Those excessive marketing tactics have resulted in skyrocketing prescription drug costs and compromised care. Direct-to-physician industry marketing promotes the prescribing of expensive drugs in place of equally safe and effective lower-cost drugs and the prescribing of newer brand name drugs that have the least safety and efficacy information. The excessive marketing of Vioxx, for example, led to the prescribing of a new drug that ended up causing unforeseen heart problems that killed 40,000 people. While the bill does not include a complete ban on industry gifts to prescribers, it does make a giant step forward in shining the light on this marketing practice by requiring the disclosure of anything of more than $50 value, giving DPH authority to ban some gifts, and including significant fines for violations of the new regulations. Thank you for your commitment to affordable health care.
First Name
Last Name
Your Email
Address
City
State
Zip
Phone Number