Abigail Zuger: “When it comes to drug ads, we are used to actorly actors, with full heads of hair and such appealing charisma that we want to be near them — or to become them ourselves. Or conversely, we expect real doctors — our own doctors, with our own individual best interests at heart, despite that Lipitor pen protruding from their pockets.
And such was the confusion engendered by the hybrid neither-of-the-above Dr. Jarvik that the escalating chorus of disapproval actually, incredibly, argued for the status quo: Dr. Jarvik may design artificial hearts, but if he is not a “real” cardiologist, with real patients and a real prescription pad, then what qualifies him, the critics asked, to recommend this or any other drug?”
