How pharmaceutical companies market drugs continues to concern lawmakers on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Yesterday Reps. John Dingell and Bart Stupak (both of Mich.) announced additional hearings will follow up the one held in early May when they peppered spokespersons from Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, and Merck/Schering-Plough about practices they considered deceptive and misleading in the promotion of Lipitor, Procrit and Vytorin. Industry reps believed their ads met standards set by their trade association PhRMA, and that they educate the public about worrisome symptoms. Under questioning, each of the companies admitted that doctors evaluating promotional reviews were paid company employees and usually licensed.

Committee questions pretty much followed party lines, with Republicans Michael Burgess (Tx), John Shimkus (Ill.), and Mike Ferguson (NJ) more accepting of industry explanations, and Democrats more probing. In a strongly worded letter to Billy Tauzin, former congressman from Louisiana who now heads the lobbying giant PhRMA, Dingell and Stupak noted that industry representatives failed to assure lawmakers that such practices would cease.

The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries permitting direct-to-consumer advertising. Psychiatric drugs were not under discussion although medication for anxiety and depression are often advertised.