Restless leg syndrome: real or marketing delivered?

Nov/15/2007 06:09 Filed in: Pharma Business
wiredscience
RLS..is it real or is it a "symptom" induced by creative marketing? That was the segment that aired last night on Wired Science on which this author was lucky enough to be interviewed. The segment on Restless Legs had a fair and balanced approach with physicians from both sides of the argument discussing whether this was a "real issue" for patients or made up by creative marketers. As someone who has suffered with restless legs for quite a while I can in fact tell you that this IS a real problem



I first went to my physician to complain about my restless legs over 5 years ago while I was still living in Indiana. I found that I could not get to sleep and in it was effecting the quality of my life. I tried to relax but my legs felt like they had to move or run. It was quite a problem. When I saw the DTC advertising I finally said "that's me" and went to my doctor to see what could be done about this problem. She prescribed Mirapex which has worked wonders and I no longer have to worry when I get an attack of RLS.


If you go to the Wired Science website and view the comments from people who watched the episode you will in fact find that this issue is quite real. There is even a RLS Foundation website for people who are looking for treatment options.


I was contacted by Wired Science thanks to my good friend John Mack and they decided to come over to my house to tape the interview. They were interested in the "marketing side of the business" and I was happy to explain that marketings primary objective is to create a demand for a product. In the case of RLS the first step was obviously to educate and inform people that this is a potential problem and once that awareness reaches a certain level to pull patient in with a solution, in this case it was REQUIP.


I am both honored and humbled by being allowed to express my opinions on national TV. I have had my 5 minutes of fame but I will continue to do what I can here on this forum to both praise and criticize current DTC programs and pharma until they acknowledge that transparency is a must today and that patients now have more power than marketers.
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