Pitching Pharma

According to Clive Cookson, science editor for the Financial Times, news coverage of biotechnology "often appears in a form that anyone who really knows about the subject recognizes as grossly exaggerated, either as positive stories in the time-honoured 'miracle cure' genre or as negative scare stories." Cookson offers tips to help companies make sure the spin goes their way: "The most important thing is to build up a good long-term relationship with journalists. Make friends with them ... Help journalists write stories about your company or research field. Feed them information, on and off the record. Then, when big news breaks -- whether it is a crisis because your leading product fails in Phase III trials or a triumph when it receives FDA approval -- the coverage will be more sympathetic." One of Cookson's "pet peeves" is "to receive a release giving clinical trial results that purports to come from an academic centre but, when read closely, is actually from a PR agency working for a pharmaceutical company. I regard it almost as deceitful for companies to bury their involvement in a project." Despite these "almost deceitful" practices, Cookson concludes that "most journalists and their readers have a positive view of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Please help the media to create an even more positive impression of your industry."