Vermont Business Magazine After a baffling Super Bowl advertisement promoting a drug to help Americans take more opiates, Gov. Peter Shumlin is calling on the two drug companies that paid for it to pull the ad off the air and instead use the money to fund opiate and heroin prevention and treatment programs. In a letter to the drug makers, the Governor called the ad poorly timed and a shameful attempt to exploit America’s addiction crisis to boost corporate profits.
Theminute-long advertisementfor opioid-induced constipation (OIC) – a condition brought on by long-term opioid use – comes at a time when America is battling a full-blown opiate and heroin addiction crisis. Gov. Shumlin has placed the blame for that crisis at the feet of the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) and pharmaceutical industry, which together have enabled pain management practices that in2012resulted in the issuing of enough opiate prescriptions to give every American their own bottle of pills.
“The irrational exuberance with which opiates are handed out in America is driving the addiction crisis in this country,” Gov. Shumlin wrote in a letter to the drug companies that paid for the ad. “Now is the time to change that, not attempt to further normalize long-term opiate use by advertising a drug to help people take even more opiates...”
The ad was paid for by drug makersAstraZeneca and Daiichi-Sankyo, which make the OIC treatment drug Movantik. The cost of advertising during the Super Bowl was a reported$5 million per 30 seconds.
“If your profits are such that they allow you to spend millions of dollars for one advertisement, surely you can join everyone from President Obama to those providing addiction treatment services on the front lines in fighting America’s opiate addiction crisis,” the Governor wrote.
The Governor’s full letter is copied below and attached.
Mr. Pascal Soriot
Executive Director and CEO, AstraZeneca
1800 Concord Pike
Wilmington, DE 19850
Mr. Joji Nakayama
President and CEO, Daiichi Sankyo
2 Hilton Court
Parsippany, NJ 07054
Dear Mr. Soriot and Mr. Nakayama,
Like many Americans, I was baffled by the commercial your companies paid an estimated $10 million to air during the Super Bowl. In the midst of America’s opiate and heroin addiction crisis the advertisement was not only poorly timed, it was a shameful attempt to exploit that crisis to boost your companies’ profits.
Pain management in America is too reliant on FDA-approved opiates. In 2012, enough opiate prescriptions were written to give every American their own bottle of pills. The irrational exuberance with which opiates are handed out in America is driving the addiction crisis in this country. Now is the time to change that, not attempt to further normalize long-term opiate use by advertising a drug to help people take even more opiates during the most watched sporting event of the year.
I ask that you immediately pull this advertisement – and others promoting this drug – from the air and instead use the money to fund opiate and heroin prevention efforts. If your profits are such that they allow you to spend millions of dollars for one advertisement, surely you can join everyone from President Obama to those providing addiction treatment services on the front lines in fighting America’s opiate addiction crisis.
Sincerely,
Peter Shumlin
Governor
OICisDifferent.com – Big Game Spot “ENVY” – Opioid-Induced Constipation (OIC):https://youtu.be/yr78_7Kip3Q