Recall that Mickelson announced he had psoriatic arthritis last August in a news story titled "PGA Championship 2010, Whistling Straits: Phil Mickelson Has Psoriatic Arthritis - Uses Enbrel To Help Manage Condition."
In that story, Mickelson was quoted as saying "I have no aches and pains. My back feels great. I feel stronger and more flexible than I've ever been." (see "Is Phil Mickelson Shilling for Enbrel?").
When he made that statement, Phil was obviously demonstrating to AMGEN/PFIZER -- the companies that market ENBREL -- what he can do to help them promote their product. AMGEN/PFIZER were suitably impressed and signed him up a few months later (or so they say).
Now that Phil is a paid ENBREL spokesperson, his remarks are more balanced. Here are some quotes from an article in the Arthritis Today issue that features him on the cover:
"Phil tried taking prednisone [a generic drug], but the side effects were awful, he says." [His Mayo Clinic doctors prescribed "weekly injections of a biologic drug"; later in the article several brand name drugs, including Humira, Enbrel, Remicade, and Simponi, are mentioned, but the article doesn't reveal exactly which drug Phil is taking -- that's already on the record elsewhere. But we now know that he didn't like the generic medicine.]
"I like where I am physically and am optimistic about 2011."
"I might take the medicine for a year and then go off it. Then, when and if it flares up, I'd go back on the medicine. I'm OK with taking medicine the rest of my life if I have to."
At the end of this article is this NOTE: "This interview took place after Phil Mickelson entered into a partnership with Amgen-Pfizer, an Arthritis Foundation sponsor, in November, 2010."
So, Amgen-Pfizer not only has to pay Phil, they also have to pay the Arthritis Foundation to get his story published! No wonder AMGEN has blown its marketing budget (see here).
No comments:
Post a Comment