Thanksgiving weekend is a big moviegoing chance, with at least one film that seeks families, of Grandpa to toddlers.
Unless you are 17 or older, and also feel comfortable viewing of many cases of the on-screen nudity while sharing milk Duds with relatives, “Love & other drugs” not that movie.
The film is of importance for the health blog, though, because the male lead, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, a sales rep of Pfizer, is responsible for doctors to switch to Zoloft Prozac and ultimately, to sell them on the then-revolutionary Viagra convince. (The film of the action starts in 1996.)
The Gyllenhaal character also fulfils a patient (played by Anne Hathaway) on the job and ends romancing her — specifically, according to the reviews we read this morning, which were mixed.(Here are links to reviews of New York Magazine, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and rottentomatoes.com the amalgamation of Reviews.)
The way he encounters first Hathaway’s character, by pretending to be a trainee so he her with her shirt off, as well as other instances of unwanted sales practices and behaviour, is not pleasant Pfizer so much.As the WSJ reported last month, said a spokesman for the drug giant that based on the trailer alone, “we do not tolerate the selling practices portrayed.”He continued: “they do not comply with our policies and procedures, which are in the possession of our employees to high ethical standards.”
Pfizer released yesterday a statement reminding viewers that the company was not involved in the production of the film. And-spoiler alert! — the company said it was “glad to see that appropriate attention is paid to the complex challenges of Parkinson’s disease patients and their families,” whereas Pfizer scientists are among those who have a remedy and improved therapies for these and other neurodegenerative diseases.
The film’s Director, Ed Zwick, told the WSJ that he consult with doctors and Pharma reps to “get the details right,” including copies of reps discuss how off-label use of drugs. Pfizer, of course, paid $ 2.3 billion last year to settle allegations of improper marketing of the Painkiller Bextra, which are no longer on the market, and other open investigations.
If this pharma industry-as-movie-background thing works, we can the Zwick next project proposals: a biopic based on the sales rep who blew the whistle on Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca both get a lot of the companies multi-million dollar settlements with the Government.
(Note that both the WSJ and 20th Century Fox, who is releasing the film, are owned by News Corp.)
Update: this post has been updated with a ruling of Pfizer.
Photo: 20th Century Fox