The drug industry is going on the offensive inside the Beltway, the WSJ reports.

Big Pharma is worried about tougher laws from Congress in the aftermath of marketing scandals, including the heavy advertising of Merck’s painkiller Vioxx (withdrawn in 2004) and Vytorin, the controversial cholesterol medicine sold jointly by Merck and Schering-Plough. So the industry is pounding the D.C. pavement, seeking easier rules on the promotion of drugs for unapproved uses and to protect its right to advertise drugs directly to patients, which might face more scrutiny under a new president.

“We have to be concerned that Congress will act too quickly in this atmosphere, without considering the problems they can cause the public by limiting the information flow to consumers,” said Bob Hogan, chief executive of Cognito Communications, a health-care marketing-strategy firm.

Daniel Troy, former FDA Chief Counsel, is returning to his role of battling the FDA by representing a coalition of 10 drugmakers — including Pfizer, Bayer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — that is calling for looser restrictions on off-label marketing. The FDA has been soliciting opinions on its proposed off-label promotion guidelines, which polled Health Blog readers said were too lax.

Also John Dingell, the chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, is likely to hold a hearing direct-to-consumer advertising, WSJ reports. “Drug companies should know that they will be held accountable for inappropriate behavior and inaccurate representations made in their ads,” Dingell said in a statement.

Photo: U.S. Capitol by dbking via Flickr

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