For a measly $200,000 (truly a drop in the drug bucket when  you consider that Big Pharma is a $235 billion industry) the pharmaceutical company Forest Laboratories, Inc. decided to add some medical muscle to its Paid Media Outreach for the  anti-depressant drug Lexapro. Forest Labs’ plan was to write  ’bylined articles’ with the collaboration of ‘thought leaders‘ to push sales. The New York Times has released a copy of this marketing plan, including these gems:

“Bylined articles will allow us to fold Lexapro messages into articles on depression, anxiety, and co-morbidity developed by (or ghostwritten for) thought leaders.  We will identify a Lexapro thought leader to place 1-3 bylined articles in trade journals, consumer publications and on the Internet.  Estimated costs include article development, revisions and honoraria for the authors. Examples of topics include co-morbidity of depression and anxiety and selectivity. Continue reading →