The Impact of the Cox-2 Inhibitor Issue on Perceptions of the Pharmaceutical Industry: Content Analysis and Communication Implications

The field of risk communication has its roots in the environmental, chemical, space, and nuclear arenas. As a number of these sectors have now vastly improved their communication strategies, attention is being placed on sectors that have been more problematic as of late. Examples of such sectors, include the food industries and the pharmaceutical/health sector. This article focuses on how large, multinational pharmaceutical companies can better communicate risks by analysis of one specific case, namely, that of the Cox-2 controversy. ^{1 1}It should be noted that this article focuses strictly on the risk communication aspects surrounding the COX-2 scare. It does not deal with the science of COX-2 drugs, nor does it attempt to come to grips with their actual benefits and risks, as this is beyond the scope of this article and has been discussed elsewhere (e.g., Psaty & Furberg, 2005 Psaty , B. M. & Furberg , C. D. ( 17 March , 2005 ). Cox-2 inhibitors—Lessons in drug safety . New England Journal of Medicine , 352 , 1133 – 1135 .[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). For purposes of this article, risk communication is best described as “the flow of information and risk evaluations back and forth between academic experts, regulatory practitioners, interest groups and the general public,” and “big pharma” refers to the more traditional R & D-based, innovative pharmaceutical companies.