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Direct-to-consumer drug
advertisements increasing by drug companies
In a March 19, 2001 issue of the American Medical
News appeared an article that dealt with the changes in MD's practices due
to drug companies increased advertising of prescription drugs directly to
the consumers. For decades the drug industry predominantly spent all
advertising efforts on getting doctors to prescribe their products. However,
as of the last several years the drug companies have spent billions of
dollars advertising to consumers in an attempt to get consumers to request
certain drugs from doctors.
According to the article, in 1999, pharmaceutical
companies spent about $1.8 billion on direct-to-consumer advertising. This
represented an increase in spending of more than 1,000% since 1993. This
was largely fueled by a boom in television advertising, which increased by
more than 4,000% in that period. The numbers represent spending in
thousands.
TV ads Print ads
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1993 $24,879 $125,089
1994 $35,738 $229,798
1995 $54,816 $319,525
1996 $219,983 $564,697
1997 $309,584 $740,828
1998 $664,413 $630,387
1999 $1,127,107 $711,602
According to the National Institute for Health
Care Management, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit, nonpartisan organization
dedicated to improving the effectiveness, efficiency and quality of
America's health care system, the most successfully promoted prescription
drugs represent five categories: antidepressants, cholesterol-lowering
agents, gastric acid reducers, oral antihistamines and antihypertensives.
What most people may not be aware of is that drug ads
need not receive Food and Drug Administration approval. However, the
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requires that all drug advertisements
contain, among other things, brief summary information regarding side
effects, contraindications and effectiveness.
Although some tout this new wave of advertising as a
good thing, others see it as creating a problem between MDs and their
patients. The article sums up this attitude by stating, "As
a result, patients ask physicians about drugs they've seen advertised.
Sometimes their questions provoke unpleasant confrontations."
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