Swine: A Chance for Pharma to Shine

As reported by the Washington Times, four of the five companies licensed to produce vaccines in the U.S. had their swine flu vaccines approved by the FDA yesterday. That's great news for Americans fearing an epidemic on proportions that many current generations have never seen.

It's worthwhile to note that the headline of the article actually stated:
... but then goes on to admit that the effort "is looking successful so far ..."

So let me get this straight. There is a flurry of activity - yes - but so far no true signs of "struggle?" They got the vaccines approved, they're producing them, they are preparing to distribute them. Then why the sensational headline?

I also found it interesting that this particular article doesn't even give those drugmakers credit by name. For the record, they include Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, CSL, and AstraZeneca.

The article is just another example of three things:

• There is a strong media bias against Big Pharma
• When pressed, the FDA can move pretty fast after all
• Pharma has some major reputation-building to do

IMO, I think it's amazing that, in this day and age, these companies can respond as quickly as they have. Keep in mind H1N1 influenza was only discovered just five months ago, FDA just approved the vaccine yesterday, and they're expecting to be ready to distribute within four weeks. Anyone involved in drug discovery, clinical research, or the pharma industry as a whole will recognize this is light speed by pharma standards.

What a great opportunity to tell the story of how pharmaceutical companies work hard to save lives! When the world cried out for a way to stop the spread of swine flu, pharma answered. This isn't sensational - these are the facts. But you can bet pharma will get little or no credit for it. And I am sure they will have to be very careful with pricing, or there will be scuttlebutt over that, too.

I've certainly found myself defending pharma before. But I hope someone - at the pharma companies' corporate offices or at PhRMA or even FDA - is thinking about a communications strategy around this. As opportunistic as the media and public are about looking for ways to pick on Big Pharma, would it be so wrong to make sure people know about Pharma's Herculean efforts to battle H1N1? With the new digital dynamic and the social world we live in, a simple idea like that could spread like wildfire. Well, maybe it's not all that simple. But we have to start somewhere.

So, go ahead, give Big Pharma a little credit for helping the world out with their swine flu epidemic. Just sayin'.

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