George P. Sillup

Ethical issues in the pharmaceutical industry: an analysis of US newspapers

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to analyze newspaper coverage of ethical issues in the pharmaceutical industry.Design/methodology/approach – The top five US newspapers were audited over two years and yielded 376 articles, which appeared as front‐page stories or editorials. First, headlines were analyzed and categorized as positive, negative, or neutral toward the industry. Next, the full‐text of each article was analyzed and ethical issues in each article were categorized. Then, articles were evaluated to determine whether the opposing point of view was included. Finally, comparisons were made between the identified issues and the issues cited by PhRMA, the pharmaceutical industrys trade association.Findings – Analysis of the ethical issues revealed different results for the two years. In 2004, the most common issues covered were drug pricing, data disclosure and importation/reimportation. In 2005, drug safety was the number one issue, due to Vioxx® with drug pricing a distant second. Headlines we...

Forecasting performance measures – what are their practical meaning?

Producing good forecast is a vital aspect of a business. The accuracy of these forecasts could have a critical impact on the organization. We introduce a new, practical, and meaningful forecast performance measure called percentage forecast error (PFE). The results of comparing and evaluating this new measure to traditional forecasting performance measures under several different simulation scenarios are presented in this chapter.

Pharmaceutical companies and physicians: Assessing their relationship

Abstract The relationship between pharmaceutical companies and physicians start to develop even during the latter academic years. The reports show a much more stable and effective partnership in developing countries where the private business is aimed to be restrained. The awareness about the delicacies of this mutual interaction can help positive aspects to benefit and negative ones to be avoided. Both positive and negative aspects are sought in the present article to see how they affect knowledge, vision, and behavior of physicians. The relevant challenges accruing thereof vis-à-vis ethical theories, professionalism, and human rights are also considered to evaluate the negative effects on the health of patients. Finally, by clarifying the root causes of the tendency for unconstructive pharmaceutical companies–physicians relationship, some strategies are offered for adverse outcomes to be reduced and positive impacts to grow: establishing ties among all entities involved in people health and treatment, defining terms and conditions for pharmaceutical companies–physicians relationship, supporting scientific researches, boosting transparency, activating hospital pharmaceutical committees, providing education to patients about generic medicine, revisiting the issue of monopoly, and attending to the modern concept of clinical governance.

Data-Driven Decision Making for New Drugs: A Collaborative Learning Experience

Two courses, advanced decision-making and pharmaceutical marketing, were combined in a collaborative process to mimic how the pharmaceutical industry determines the potential of new drugs. Integrated student teams worked together to complete semester-long projects and taught each other their respective knowledge areas—marketing and statistics. Real-world data for medical and pharmacy claims payments were “cleaned†and mined by students to analyze usage and cost patterns for anti-hypertensive and anti-hypercholesterolemia drugs currently on the market. Analyses included merging the medical and pharmaceutical data records to derive individual electronic patient records, which were the basis of financial projections for the new drugs. Importantly, the single patient record is congruent with the needs of the stakeholders currently working to reform U.S. healthcare delivery.

Using the Analytical Hierarchical Process to Determine the Optimal Scale to Assess People with Dementia Pre and Post Timeslips Sessions

Abstract The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multicriteria decision support system that has been successfully applied to numerous decision-making situations, has been applied to patient assessment. The AHP was used with Timeslips™, a group storytelling program that encourages creative expression among dementia patients, to determine the optimal scale for pre and post assessment among the nine most common agitation and anxiety scales. The AHP used the six criteria identified by qualitative assessment of the nine scales: (1) validity/reliability, (2) observation period, (3) training required, (4) time to administer, (5) most appropriate administrator, and (6) accessibility/cost. The AHP indicated that the Overt Agitation & Anxiety Scale was optimal for use with Timeslips; the process and results are discussed.

A Multiple Criteria Model to Creating Teams

In many educational and professional environments, diversely talented teams are created to solve problems requiring different skill sets. In the educational setting teams may be used to conduct a learning project; in a work setting teams may be used to develop a new product. Teams are usually constructed from “players” in different functional departments. Because the “best” player in each department can’t be on all teams, constructing teams so that all teams function optimally is a challenging and often arbitrary process. This chapter describes a multiple criteria model for team selection that balances skill sets among the groups and varies the composition of the teams from period to period. The results of applying this team selection model to a cohort-structured Executive MBA (EMBA) program and to team selection in a Fortune 100 corporation are presented. The results of this project suggest that an implantation of a quantitative method, such as our Model III, markedly improves team performance and achieves that improvement in a timelier manner.

The 2002 PhRMA Code and Pharmaceutical Marketing: Did Anybody Bother to Ask the Reps?

After marketing tactics resulted in

Percentage Forecasting Error: A New Forecasting Performance Measure – How Accurate is it?

1.2 billion fines, the 2002 PhRMA Code attempted to standardize marketing and sales practices. Self-regulation had varied success by other industries and by pharmaceutical industries in other countries. Similarly, the Code addressed negative responses about pharmaceuticals practices but had no provisions for monitoring violations. Representatives (reps) perspectives were assessed using an 18-item instrument with 72 reps from 25 companies. Analyses indicated that reps from bigger companies, PhRMA and non-PhRMA, adhered better. The way reps adhered was split between adhering reluctantly and following faithfully. Two thirds felt it was more difficult to do their jobs, resulting from prior entertainment-based relationships with physicians.

Reduction of agitation and anxiety observed in a case study of people with dementia using TimeSlips™ creative expression program

The accuracy of forecasts has a critical impact on an organization. A new, practical, and meaningful forecast performance measure, percentage forecasting error (PFE), was introduced by the authors in an earlier publication. In this chapter, we examined the accuracy of the PFE under several different scenarios and found the results to indicate that PFE offers forecasters an accurate and practical alternative to assess forecast accuracy.

A NON-PHARMACOLOGIC CLINICAL STUDY OF NURSING HOME RESIDENTS WITH ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE AND DEMENTIA USING TIMESLIPS

TimeSlips™ is a group storytelling program encouraging creative expression among people with dementia. A case study was conducted to evaluate whether TimeSlips could decrease symptoms of agitation and anxiety, in people with dementia, utilising the overt agitation severity scale (OASS). Participants included 42 residents diagnosed with dementia and impaired by anxiety and/or agitation. Despite a rigorous enrolment process, consent for only 15 residents was attained; 12, who routinely participated in TimeSlips and control sessions, which were conducted twice weekly for six weeks. OASS ratings were conducted before and after all sessions. When pre- and post-OASS ratings were compared for, all study participants showed clear reductions in agitation and anxiety as measured by changes in OASS scores (p < .001). The TimeSlips group was as effective as the control group and consistently had lower OASS scores, showing promise for care of persons with dementia, expressing symptoms of anxiety and agitation.