Pfizer drafting customers to lobby

WASHINGTON -- Ward Wetherell is used to receiving health tips about such topics as "good" cholesterol from Pfizer Inc. , the world's largest drug company. This month , however, the glossy brochure Pfizer sent to Wetherell's home in Needham tackled a national policy issue days after a crucial House of Representatives vote to lower prescription drug prices.

Congress needs to hear that market forces, not the government, should control prices, said the "For Living " brochure, which included form letters addressed to Wetherell's representatives in Congress. "History reminds us that when the government interferes in a free market and controls prices, the results can be dangerous," it warned.

Pfizer and other drug makers facing fierce competition from cheaper generic drugs are aggressively protecting their business. The drug industry has recorded windfall profits due to the Medicare Part D prescription drug program, according to IMS Health Inc. , a healthcare information company. Industry lobbyists have rallied in speeches, television spots, and full-page print advertising that defends Medicare's year-old prescription drug benefit as a success story that saves seniors $1,200 per year.

But by fostering a so-called "astroturf " movement -- an artificial grass-roots movement bankrolled by a corporation -- Pfizer's push-back breaks ground, according to a drug industry observer and a former drug industry sales representative.

Jack Cox , a Pfizer spokesman, declined to say how many fliers the company sent, how much the marketing effort cost, or whether it typically drafts form letters for consumers to send to Congress.

The package Pfizer sent to Wetherell included letters addressed to Representative Stephen Lynch and Senator Edward M. Kennedy , who represent the 72-year-old . Unlike the brochure, the letters did not mention Pfizer, but were preprinted with Wetherell's name and address. All he had to do was initial, fold and pop the letters into pre-stamped envelopes. By doing so, Wetherell, a bypass survivor, could instantly become an unpaid Pfizer lobbyist.

Would he?

"Oh, God, no," said Wetherell, who called the drug maker's stance on pricing "ridiculous." The Vietnam-era veteran said his prescription drugs are inexpensive, thanks to dogged negotiations by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He wants it to stay that way.

Still, the Pfizer letters are beginning to trickle into congressional offices.

Lynch, who has long pushed for government negotiations to lower Medicare drug bills, by yesterday had received 37 copies of the letter, a number dwarfed by the 700 letters he's received asking for direct negotiations on prices. The Pfizer-drafted correspondence "are the first letters we've received that ask Congressman Lynch to oppose giving the secretary [of Health and Human Services] the power to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors," said a spokesman, Matt Ferraguto .

One senior who received the pitch decided to criticize Pfizer on its own dime: "Pfizer asked me to sign and send. I do not agree with their view," a Milton woman wrote to the Massachusetts Democrat. "They spend too much on sales and pushing lunches" for medical residents , she said.

Kennedy, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions committee, by Thursday had received fewer than 100 of the Pfizer letters, said a spokeswoman, Melissa Wagoner .

"As with any correspondence from a constituent, even form letters are taken seriously," Wagoner said.

Because of that, Dr. Jerry Avorn , a Harvard Medical School professor , condemned the covert campaign as "a distortion of the democratic process."

Avorn, who tracks drug company marketing, said the industry has already "succeeded in making patients into sales reps through direct-to-consumer advertising. Now, apparently, the next step is to make patients into lobbyists."

Gene Carbona , a former Merck & Co. district sales manager, was struck that the letters came from Pfizer, not the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America , drug industry lobbyists. "I've never seen a company make this move on their own, on behalf of themselves," said Carbona, executive director of the Medical Letter , a subscriber-financed publication that reviews new medicines.

According to FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Services Inc. , a color brochure similarly printed on high-quality paper would cost $3.80 apiece. The US Post Office said the four-page brochure, two letters and two stamped envelopes would cost nearly $1 to mail First Class.

Carbona said Pfizer likely mailed millions of the packages.

"Pfizer for Living" newsletters, which the company started producing in 1999 , frequently discuss "key legislative issues that may impact consumers," said Cox, the Pfizer spokesman. Consumers elect to receive the newsletters, which include details on how to be removed from the mailing list.

The House this month voted to permit the federal government to follow the VA's lead, mandating direct negotiations with manufacturers to lower prescription drug bills for Medicare beneficiaries -- over objections that the bill would produce negligible savings.

The Senate will likely take up the matter within weeks.

Diedtra Henderson can be reached at dhenderson@globe.com.