Details Of Dr. Oz Ambush Dished Up During 2013 DIA
By Rob Wright, Chief Editor, Life Science Leader
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By Rob Wright
At this year’s DIA meeting in Boston, we tried something a little different, thanks to an idea presented to us by LabCorp, which approached us expressing interest in creating an educational/networking opportunity. So I reached out to my good friend John LaMattina, Ph.D. who blogs for Forbes to see if he might be interested in giving a talk. A senior partner at PureTech Ventures and former president of Pfizer’s global R&D, LaMattina has a lot of experience and wisdom to share, which he has captured in a couple of books — his latest being Devalued and Distrusted: Can the Pharmaceutical Industry Restore Its Broken Image? Having read the book, I was aware of his experience of being ambushed on the Dr. Oz show in May 2011. But to hear him described the experience in a conversational, self-deprecating, fireside-chat type format, was not only entertaining, but educational.
Teacher Telling The Tale
The Executive Networking Series was held at the Westin Boston Waterfront directly across from the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center which was playing host to the 49th Annual DIA meeting. In addition to cocktails and appetizers, attendees of the LabCorp-sponsored event were given a complimentary signed copy of John’s book. They were also treated to LaMattina spinning the yarn of how in his naiveté, when asked to appear on The Dr. Oz Show, he failed to ask the producer the topic of discussion. As he left the green room (which he attests really is green) and entered the stage , he realized the significance of this oversight when he saw the banner “The Four Things the Drug Companies Don’t Want You to Know” and was showered with boos from the audience. LaMattina went on to indulge the audience with other stories and experiences, including his ongoing dispute with Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science, some of which can be seen in this Twitter stream, with numerous industry thought leaders (@matthewherper @DrAnasYounes @pharmagossip) also weighing in. He concluded his talk with suggestions on what the industry should do to repair its broken image, such as stopping the off-label detailing of drugs by sales representatives, discontinuation of pharmaceutical company TV ads, and increased transparency regarding pharmaceutical companies sharing clinical trial outcomes data.
Who’s Who Of Attendees
When the event was over, I had several people thank me for putting on the event or sending them an invitation. I am glad Bernie Clark of LabCorp suggested the idea. The feedback was very complimentary. One person pulled me aside expressing how they were initially concerned that after having sat in scientific sessions all day, the event might be more of the same, but was delighted by LaMattina’s storytelling style and the event’s laid-back atmosphere. We were thankful to have past DIA Program Chair and head of clinical innovation at Pfizer, Craig Lipset, attend and ask a question of Dr. LaMattina. Sandy Milligan, J.D., M.D., the 2013 DIA Program Chair and vice president global regulatory therapeutic area head for inflammation, virology and ophthalmology at Genentech also took time out from her busy schedule to attend and network. To give you an idea of some of the other high level folks who attended, here is a sampling of some of organizations which were represented — Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Biogen Idec, BioMarin, Chiltern, Eisai, FDA, GSK, J&J, MedImmune, Millenium, Novartis, Teva, The Avoca Group, Theravance. Even the folks from TransPerfect stayed the entire time, even though they had their own event taking place later that evening. We hope to be able to do something like this again, so let me know if you have any suggestions for speakers, venues, and so on. In the meantime, here are some photos from this executive networking series.