Novartis teamed up with athletes for doctor marketing

Apparently, Novartis ($NVS) has done just that, using professional athletes as a draw at doctor dinners.

We're all familiar with celebrity pitches in DTC drug advertising. Sally Field and the bone drug Boniva, Brooke Shields and the eyelash-growing med Latisse, and so on. But what about celebrities helping pharma market its wares to doctors?

Apparently, Novartis ($NVS) has done just that, using professional athletes as a draw at doctor dinners. As the Washington Times reports, athletes such as New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning and Baseball Hall-of-Famer Johnny Bench would show up at Novartis-hosted doctor events, give short speeches, answer questions about their careers, and then pose for individual photos with the physicians. Sales reps would later bring the photos when they called on doctors for detailing.

"I hope someone at the company got a fat bonus, because this is one of the most clever schemes I've seen to provide gifts to doctors," Paul Thacker, an investigator for the nonpartisan watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, told the Times. "If you sho