KOLs
This chapter considers the physicians who advised the pharmaceutical industry in the interest of bringing an effective compound to the attention of the profession. It mentions Roland Kuhn, the Swiss asylum psychiatrist who in 1957 discovered the effectiveness of imipramine in depression and advised about marketing strategies to use to sell the drug. It also highlights the true nature of the testimonials of physicians, which is well known to the industry. The industry’s contempt for them is shown by its vernacular term for sources, which are called “stables.” The chapter focuses on the “stables” of the 1980s that later became Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). It points out that the sardonic term KOL first appeared in industry correspondence as an insider expression for academics.