Everyone's Health

Drug companies may not think laughter's best medicine

John Schwartz

The paisley pill sure looks friendly, waving as it walks jauntily across the computer screen. It's called Progenitorivox, and is apparently good for what ails you. But look out for those side effects, which include, in rhyme, "constipation, male lactation" and "rust-colored urination."

Progenitorivox is a fake pill – not a placebo, but a fiction devised as part of a campaign by the Consumers Union to pass legislation requiring drug makers to disclose the side effects of their products.

The turn to humor is an uncharacteristic move for the Consumers Union, admitted its Internet advocacy manager, Kathy Mitchell, who added, "We're the test-and-inform people."

The group commissioned the catchy tune, "The Drugs I Need," from the Austin Lounge Lizards, a band that plays a twisted blend of folk, country and bluegrass.

Their music has always tweaked convention in the name of fun, and often with a political tang; their other songs have titles like "That Godforsaken Hellhole I Call Home," and "Jesus Loves Me (but He Can't Stand You)."

The drug song skewers not just side effects, but also the escalating price of drugs, the billions spent on advertising and even the rapid-fire disclaimers at the end of real drug ads. The video also will be featured on the political comedy site JibJab.

The pharmaceutical industry does not find the video all that amusing. "It's a catchy jingle all right, and good for a laugh," said Jeff Trewhitt, a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, "but we really ought to be having serious conversations about how best to help doctors and their patients choose the right medicines." He said information on drugs could be found at Web sites such as www.clinicaltrialresults.org.

Hank Card, a co-founder of the Austin Lounge Lizards, said that "bluegrass has traditionally, by definition, been more resistant to change than promoting social change."

He noted, though, that the song was not pure bluegrass; it has a swing flavor. "We're taking bluegrass," he said, "where it was never meant to go."

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