They will not admit to paying for it, but Pharma is showing up more and more in television - both in product shots and brand mentions.

Reports are showing 462 mentions of prescription drugs on TV last year, more than double the number from just two years earlier.

The FDA, which monitors advertising for the pharmaceutical industry does not have an explicit position on product placement. In normal advertising, drug makers are prohibited from advertising the benefits of their drugs without mentioning possible risks.

As reported in USA Today, the Jan. 16 episode of ABC’s “Boston Legal,” seemed highly promotional.  In the episode, a teacher got in trouble for failing to administer EpiPen, an injectible medication, to a child who ate peanut candy and died.

The boy’s father, testifying on the show, said: “Anaphylactic shock can come on suddenly, which is what happened here. The airways can become clogged in less than 30 seconds. If the EpiPen isn’t administered, it can be fatal.”

The product is manufactured by Dey, which is now part of Merck (NYSE:MRK).

One pharma company admitting to advertising via product placement is Organon Pharmaceuticals USA, part of Akzo Nobel(NASDAQ:AKZOY) who promoted their Nuva Ring contraceptive in the show Scrubs. 

A logo for the contraceptive brand NuvaRing appeared 11 times, mostly on posters placed in the background.

The brand’s maker, Organon Pharmaceuticals USA of Roseland, N.J., told trade magazine Brandweek that it had done placement deals with several television shows, including CBS’ “King of Queens” and ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy."

As networks are looking to do more integration deals, expect to see pharma moving towards larger and more complex integration deals.

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