Pfizer gleam tainted by tactics

AP

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican senator’s pointed questions about why a Pfizer Inc. employee was photographing a Harvard medical student protest drew a statement of regret Wednesday from the drug company.

Pfizer said it regrets if anyone was offended when a company sales representative photographed medical students protesting pharmaceutical company influence on campus.

The drug–maker offered no explanation for why the photographs were taken.

"This unfortunate incident has overshadowed the importance of collaboration between industry and leading academic medical institutions," Pfizer said.

Pfizer also had no immediate answers for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R–Iowa, about payments the company reportedly made to nearly 150 Harvard faculty members.

Grassley, the Senate Finance Committee’s top Republican, told the company in a letter this week that the photographing incident "does raise concerns that Pfizer is attempting to intimidate young scholars from professing their independent views."

The senator also demanded details about incidents of Pfizer payments to Harvard faculty members as reported in The New York Times.

Grassley previously was investigating pharmaceutical company influence on Harvard doctors who in some cases allegedly failed to report payments from drug makers even while promoting certain medical treatments.

The protest in question was held in October and involved about 50 Harvard medical students, some of whom noticed someone taking cell phone photos. They asked him who he was and he said he worked for Pfizer but didn’t identify himself.

Company spokesman Ray Kerins declined to comment beyond the company’s statement to address who the employee was, whether he was acting under orders from the company and whether he was facing any disciplinary action.

"We continue to believe that Pfizer’s practices with respect to its interactions with medical universities are wholly appropriate and are in compliance with industry standards and the law," the statement said.

Pfizer last month announced it would make public its compensation of U.S. health care professionals for consulting, speaking engagements and clinical trials.