LexisNexis Torts Law Center Staff

Avandia maker GlaxoSmithKline was noticeably absent last week at the annual meeting of the American Association of Diabetes Educators. Is litigation to blame? Probably not, but something’s happening in Pharma Land.

Two years ago, GSK was one of the more prominent exhibitors at the meeting; I still have some of its nifty Avandia, Avandaryl and Avandamet pens. And last year, GSK was prominent at the annual scientific meeting of the American Diabetes Association. GSK swag there included insulated travel mugs. The difference was last year’s meeting came about three months after a New England Journal of Medicine study about Avandia and heart problems. GSK fought back: it hurriedly changed the topic of one of its early-morning “corporate symposia” to Avandia. But it didn’t pull out of the exhibit hall and it didn’t stop giving things away.

Avandia hasn’t been taken off the market and health professionals continue to debate its risks and benefits — and to prescribe it. GSK last month reported quarterly Avandia sales of $386 million; no chump change. So you would think that GSK would be exhibiting at this year’s meeting of diabetes educators — the people who, after the doctor, spend a lot of time telling diabetics how to check their blood sugar, how to eat and how to take insulin, if need be. The educators were at this year’s meeting, 3,500 strong, according to the association. And so was Takeda Pharmaceuticals, maker of Avandia rival Actos. But no GSK. Not on the list, not on the map, not on the exhibit floor with the other sometimes elaborate displays, costumed models and crepe makers, not even on the list of “pulled out” exhibitors. How come?

Readers of Mealey’s Emerging Drugs & Devices, of course, know Avandia is in litigation, but dispositive rulings or trials are months, if not years away. GSK told stockholders last month that Avandia sales continue to be down. But litigation’s never seemed to stop a drug and device manufacturer from exhibiting a product that is still on the market.

GSK tells me it's cut-backs.  It's exhibiting at "far fewer" meetings that it can support and exhibit at.  Costs, a spokesperson says, are "a little bit prohibitive."  It’s well-known that drug companies are laying off by the thousands. And it’s that same work pool that is expected to staff exhibits. They’re flown in from all over the country, given matching outfits and put to work detailing attendees and handing out literature or trinkets. To make their jobs easier, attendees even wear bar-coded name badges; all the exhibitors have to do it scan them with a hand-held device and the attendee is in the sales system.

Other exhibitors seem to be cutting back. Indeed, the exhibit hall at this year’s diabetes educator’s meeting was noticeably smaller than it was in 2006, when it was held in the same place: the huge Washington, D.C., convention center. In 2006, the exhibits were in the main exhibit halls, which run for two blocks under M Street and account for 473,000 square feet of exhibit space. The area used this year is listed at only 230,000 square feet. And not all of it was exhibits.

Concerns over marketing may also be another reason. Gone was one company’s two-story exhibit, complete with a stairway, a glass-walled upstairs office and furniture. This year’s exhibits were smaller, and there were a LOT fewer pens. That latter might be due to a recent decision by drug manufacturers to stop handing out pens and other freebies to doctors (but continuing to feed doctors and their staffs). Two years ago, the giveaways were so voluminous that exhibitors seemed to compete by not only giving away more and better stuff but giving away promotional bags that were bigger than the next exhibit to carry the stuff in. I’m not making this up: at some exhibits you can rent a box and then have all your loot shipped home by UPS.

In the end, it seems like my lack of a new Avandia pen from this year’s meeting is a sign of the times for drug companies in general: restrictions on promotional goodies, fewer sales reps, closer safety scrutiny and a tough economy. Make a note of that. And use a yellow No. 2 pencil.