LEMAY DOAN ROLE WITH DRUG CARD RAISES QUESTIONS
Olympian fails to reveal paid role for drug card
Catriona LeMay Doan has seen a lot of television studios lately, touring the country with a genial tale about how even two-time Olympic gold medallists can suffer chronic pain and arthritis.
In each talk-show appearance, the speed-skating legend relates how prescription medicines have been her salvation, and that she discovered something almost “too good to be true”: a card that lets her buy the brand-name version of the drugs at the same price as the generics.
What is made less clear to the audiences is that Lemay Doan is a paid “ambassador” for the industry-funded card Innovicares and that some analysts believe such cards are needlessly driving up health-care costs.
Pharmaceutical companies tout the “copayment” product as a way to give customers more choice in how their prescription is filled.
Critics say they convince people to opt for a brandname medication when generics have been proven just as effective, and often leave private drug plans picking up the hefty price difference.
Marketing Innovicares with a spokeswoman whose role is ambiguous — or not disclosed at all — makes it worse, they charge.
“There are so many things wrong with this that I do not know where to begin,” said Marc-André Gagnon, a health policy professor at Ottawa’s Carleton University. “When you go on TV shows, on public television and you start making marketing claims as if it was your personal opinion … for me this is simply dishonest.”
The campaign is reminiscent of a controversial American trend that saw dozens of Hollywood stars provide heartfelt television interviews about their conditions and the medicines they use to treat them — often neglecting to mention they were paid by a drug company to do so.
But a spokesman for STI Technologies, the Halifax company that distributes Innovicares, a card used by more than one million Canadians, says TV stations asked for interviews with Lemay Doan — after a news release was issued explaining her role as a spokeswoman.
On air, STI gave her free rein to say as little or as much as she wanted about their relationship, said Dave Morton, the firm’s vice-president of sales and marketing.
“Those weren’t scripted,” he said. “That’s up to her, how she’s going to show her alliance or not, or whether to have full disclosure.”
Rogers Media, whose City TV show in Toronto, Breakfast Television, did not mention the athlete’s paidambassador role, declined to comment.
Lemay Doan was not available, but spokeswoman Tara Wickwire said the ex-Olympian is “passionate about educating Canadians” on their choice of prescription medications.
“Having encountered different challenges with arthritis and pain since her Olympic career, she took on the role as ambassador because she recognized a strong fit with Innovicares.”
Brand-name pharmaceutical companies have been fighting to the “patent cliff” — billions in sales lost over the past five years as generic copies of numerous blockbuster drugs entered the market.
Drug-discount, coupon or “copayment” cards are a contentious weapon in that turf battle.
Offered by individual companies or — in the case of Innovicares — a firm representing several manufacturers, patients present them at the pharmacy to ensure they receive the brand version at no more than the generic cost.
Who pays the difference in the price — as much as $80 on a $100 prescription — is part of the controversy.
Provincial government drug plans have long insisted they will only fund generics, if available, and some private plans recently started doing the same.
But more than half Canada’s private-plan members — representing about $5 billion in yearly prescription-drug spending — have programs that will cover the brand price if requested, says Barbara Martinez, a drug-benefits expert with Great West Life Assurance.
When the discount card is presented, the cost is borne by that payer. If it won’t pay, the tab is sometimes picked up by the spouse’s plan, she said. If none of the plans cover the cost, the brand-name manufacturer does so.
STI’s Morton argued, though, that the manufacturer pays the bill most of the time.
Innovicares is used by 1.5 million Canadians, in thousands of purchases a day, though that’s still less than two per cent of prescriptions where a generic is available, he said.
Canada’s use of generics remains significantly lower than in the U.S., and it’s been estimated that greater use of the cheaper copies could save up to $4 billion a year.
In her interviews, the engaging Lemay Doan offers a more positive view of the product, saying it “allowed me to stay on that same medication, continue with that same routine and I was able to save money.”
Her connection to the company is left vague, at best. The host of City TV Calgary’s Breakfast Television show notes briefly the winner of speed-skating golds at the 1998 and 2002 Olympics is “partnering” with Innovicares, the interviewer on CP24 in Toronto that she has “teamed up” with the firm.
On the Toronto version of Breakfast Television, there is no mention of any relationship.
Pharmaceutical marketers generally prefer that their celebrity spokespeople are not “tainted” by an obvious industry link, said Cassels.
But consumers “really want to know whose dime you’re speaking from, and that sort of stuff should be transparent,” he said.
THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS WRONG WITH THIS THAT I DO NOT KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN.