Athletes’ Endorsements Of Drugs Examined By "OTL"

“OTL” Examines Growing List Of Sports Personalities Endorsing Drugs

Last night’s edition of ESPN’s “OTL Nightly” examined the growing role and responsibility of athletes who endorse prescription drugs. ESPN.com’s Darren Rovell said PTA Entertainment Dir of Celebrity Relations Gil Pagovich “maintains a 75-page list of sports personalities with medical conditions,” and “he hopes to broker lucrative endorsement deals ... with drug companies.” Pagovich: “The average deal is anywhere from $250,000-350,000 and some deals creep close to a $1[M].” Public Citizen’s Health Research Group MD Dir Sidney Wolfe, on Dorothy Hamill endorsing Vioxx, which was pulled from the market on September 30: “To put your name on something that you’re not fully informed about is a serious breech of ethics.” Univ. of California-Davis professor of medicine Robert Kravitz: “There’s no question that these ads are effective in motivating patients to bring their questions and to request medications of their doctors, otherwise the drug industry wouldn’t spend $2.5[B] a year on such endeavors.” More Kravitz: “I wouldn’t ever go so far as to say athletes are blame-worthy for endorsing a drug that later turns out to be unsafe, but they do share some level of responsibility.” Kravitz added, “There’s one way in which athletes are doing a great service in certain areas, and that’s by reducing the stigma that’s associated with some conditions, (such as erectile dysfunction)” (“OTL Nightly,” ESPN, 11/18).