Professional Capture
The influence and capture of technical experts in a specific sector, like engineering, agronomics or the healthcare professions is an important source of intangible assets for corporations. It is important to differentiate this strategy from scientific capture as it sometimes has very little to do with science, and more to do with promotional campaigns and influencing the behaviors of professionals.
In the United States, while the pharmaceutical industry spent $24 billion in research and development in 2004, it spent $58 billion in promotional campaigns (Gagnon and Lexchin 2008), of which $54 billion was spent targeting healthcare professionals, including $43 billion spent specifically targeting physicians. It represents an average promotional spending of $61,000 per physician annually to influence their prescribing habits. In addition to standard promotion, the CMS Open Payment Data shows that, in the United States, drug manufacturers paid $9.35 billion to 627,000 physicians (directly or through an institutional affiliation), which represents a yearly average of $15,000 per physician. “Key opinion leaders” and promotional campaigns geared towards professionals have the capacity to shape expert opinion and influence professionals on controversial issues.
The investment in professional capture in the pharmaceutical sector can be financially greater than what is being invested in research and development and manufacturing. In other words, the main activity of many dominant companies in specific sectors is less about developing and producing new products than it is about producing and controlling narratives that shape strategic knowledge in a way that favor corporate interests.
References
Gagnon, M.-A., & Lexchin, J. (2008). The Cost of Pushing Pills: A New Estimate of Pharmaceutical Promotion Expenditures in the United States. PLOS Medicine, 5(1), e1. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050001