For the first 25 years of my medical career, I didn’t buy a pen. Free writing implements were in plentiful supply at every educational event I attended, dished out by drugs reps and emblazoned with the names of their latest products. Then there was the medical kit: when taking blood, I still use a tourniquet bearing the name of a once-popular heart failure treatment. More gimmicky items included cuddly toys and stress balls. My now grown children still recall their excitement when Dad came home bearing pharmaceutical goodies for them.
The purpose of these inexpensive gifts was to build and maintain brand awareness. When using a peak expiratory flow rate calculator to assess the severity of someone’s asthma, for example, the odds were I would prescribe the inhalers made by the company that had given me the tool, the names of which were handily inscribed there as an aide-memoire. More challenging for the pharmaceutical industry was how to penetrate the world of medicine with new products.
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