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> December 23rd, 2004 12:34 pm

> New project gives drug companies a sick feeling

>

> By Elaine Dutka / Los Angeles Times

>

> America's pharmaceutical industry is putting out an advisory about

the latest potential threat to its health: .

>

> , the filmmaker whose targets have included General Motors

( " & Me " ), the gun lobby (the -winning " Bowling for

Columbine " ) and President Bush ( " Fahrenheit 9/11 " ), has now set his

sights on the healthcare industry, including insurance companies,

HMOs, the Food and Drug Administration -- and drug companies.

>

> At least six of the nation's largest companies already have issued

internal notices to their work forces, preparing them for potential

ambushes.

>

> " We ran a story in our online newspaper saying is embarking

on a documentary -- and if you see a scruffy guy in a baseball cap,

you'll know who it is, " said Lederer, a spokesman for Pfizer

Global Research and Development.

>

> In September and October, GlaxoKline, the second-largest in

retail sales, as well as AstraZeneca and Wyeth, sent out

alerts, instructing employees that questions posed by the media or

filmmakers should be handled by corporate communications.

Heavyweights Sanofi-Synthelabo and Aventis Pharmaceuticals each sent

similar memos before their recent merger. Merck & Co., Abbott

Laboratories, Eli Lilly & Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis

Pharmaceuticals and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries send periodic

messages about dealing with the media but haven't singled out

by name. & declined to comment.

>

> 's project is only the latest bit of bad news for the

beleaguered industry. Popular -- and lucrative -- drugs such as

Vioxx, Celebrex and Aleve have been linked to cardiovascular

problems, and the possibility of lawsuits is looming. Canada is

undercutting U.S. drug prices, and health budgets are being slashed.

And then there's increased scrutiny by the FDA, whose oversight of

the drug industry and its relationship to it is raising many

questions.

>

> " We have an image problem -- not only with , but with

the general public, " said M.J. Fingland, senior director of

communications for the Washington, D.C.-based Pharmaceutical

Research and Manufacturers of America. " We're criticized on the Hill

and in the press -- put in the category of the tobacco industry,

even though we save lives. "

>

> The industry, Fingland said, has made great strides in the last

three years -- since a new ethics policy was implemented in 2001.

Drawn up with the help of the American Medical Association and other

medical specialty groups, it restricted the types of gifts given to

doctors, for example, setting a $100 ceiling on each. Although

pharmaceutical companies can still sponsor meetings, they no longer

have free rein to treat doctors to five-star dinners or pick up

their hotel tabs.

>

> " Giveaways, lavish trips are a thing of the past, " Fingland

said. " We've cleaned up the business considerably. "

>

> Despite the improvement, pharmaceutical executives are bracing for

the worst.

>

> " 's past work has been marked by negativity, so we can only

assume it won't be a fair and balanced portrayal, " said

Bloom, executive director of corporate communications for the

Wilmington, Del.-based AstraZeneca. " His movies resemble docudramas

more than documentaries. "

>

> Rumors already are flying within the industry about 's

moviemaking tactics. , it is said, has hired actors to portray

pharmaceutical salesmen who offer gifts to doctors who promote their

products. There's also word that he's offered physicians $50,000

apiece to install secret cameras in their offices in an effort to

document alleged corruption.

>

> In September, employees said that was shoving a microphone

at people at GlaxoKline, Bloom notes, even though he was in

town only for a radio appearance.

>

> " We have six business centers nationwide, all of which report

`sightings,' " Bloom said. " is becoming an urban

legend. "

>

> Tentatively titled " Sicko, " 's film will probably be released

in the first half of 2006, sometime between the Sundance and Cannes

film festivals. No deal has yet been reached, but an announcement is

expected after the new year. There's interest in the industry, he

says, on the part of some of the major studios and not just their

specialty divisions.

>

> Reached at his home in Michigan, the director declined to say

whether he's hired actors to portray pharmaceutical salesmen and

denied paying doctors to help him install secret cameras. ( " I didn't

need to. So many doctors have offered to help, for free, in an

effort to expose the system. " ) He does admit to hanging around

hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies,

including two that have not issued internal alerts.

>

> It's getting harder to find corporate executives, however, who are

willing to sit down for interviews, said.

>

> decided to make a film about healthcare because it's " a hot-

button issue with the average American -- the domestic issue of the

day, " he said. " Being screwed by your HMO and ill-served by

pharmaceutical companies is the shared American experience. The

system, inferior to that of much poorer nations, benefits the few at

the expense of the many. "

>

> Tackling the health industry first occurred to the documentarian

after he shot a segment for his now-defunct TV show, " The Awful

Truth, " about a man fighting his insurance company to pay for a

kidney and pancreas transplant. He said the viewer response was

enormous -- as was audience reaction to a derogatory line about HMOs

in the Jack Nicholson-Helen Hunt movie, " As Good As It Gets. " There

was a raw nerve, he ultimately decided, that wasn't being addressed.

>

> Last summer, the Endeavor agency, which represents , tested

the Hollywood waters -- sending out a six-page outline of " Sicko " to

a host of independent producers, independent film companies and the

major studios. The movie, according to the treatment, would end with

sailing to Cuba with ailing Americans to take advantage of

that country's free healthcare. That, he says, was only a joke made

on a late-night talk show.

>

> Pekarek, vice president of corporate media relations for

British company GlaxoKline, said employees are uneasy about an

assault.

>

> " We've been getting voicemail messages, " she said. " This is their

career, after all, and it's no fun to be targeted. The problem is

that 's film (isn't likely to) reflect the stringent standards

of today. "

>

> The movie, said, is only in its early stages " and already

people are freaky-deaky. "

>

> While " Sicko " is coming to life, " Fahrenheit " hasn't been laid to

rest. Beginning on Inauguration Day, will be documenting the

activities of the Bush administration for " Fahrenheit 9/11 1/2. "