A top lawyer at Pfizer last week took the unusual position of publicly endorsing the right of drug companies to practice off-label marketing in certain instances.

Arnold Friede, senior counsel at Pfizer, said pharma firms should be able to distribute information on unapproved drug uses if the information is “truthful and not misleading,” and published in a medical journal.

It is an interesting read.  The article emphasizes the notion that few companies challenge the FDA for fear about FDA reprisal when it comes to the approval of new drugs:

Drug companies fear challenging the FDA when they disagree with its guidance on drug promotion, Friede said, because “given the fact [the FDA also has] control over most drug approvals, most companies will not fight to the death.”

The perception in the industry is that the FDA “might exercise that lever” with a drug company that opposed it over the off-label issue, Friede said.

This is interesting as it is one of the first public endorsements of this proposition by a pharmaceutical company.

It seems to me that the pharmaceutical industry – as a whole – could find a way to challenge the FDA’s purported First Amendment violations while avoiding reprisals against individual pharmaceutical companies.