I just got finished reading eve's diary Why do so many men need Viagra, etc? Is it because....? and I went away thinking...why is direct advertising to consumers legal?
I realize that this is water under the bridge at the moment with so much foment about HCR, but direct advertising to consumers of prescription medication (DTC) has always struck me as somewhere between outrightly unethical and against a multitude of public health interests.
DTC advertising is only legal in two contries, ours, and New Zealand. And, it only became legal in the US in 1997, when the FDA produced a ruling that allowed for drug companies to advertise without a full summary of the FDA's report on the drug's effectiveness.
In June 2005, the American Medical Association (AMA) took no stand on this issue. You can read an article about that here.
In June 2006, according to About.com, the AMA requested that pharmaceutical companies delay advertising on new drugs to give physicians time to get better acquainted with them. You can read the About.com snippet here.
In February 2009, Amednews.com announced the FDA was conducting a study of the ads, and you can read about it here.
Big PhRMA aggressively claims that Americans are grossly undermedicated and that these ads help instigate conversations with their physicians. Physicians are worried that the ads OVERmedicate the population, are misleading about their effects, and don't adequately portray the cons as well as their benefits.
Since the ability to write prescriptions is regulated, and since only doctors have that authority, it seems improper to me for consumers to interfere with the doctor's advice. After all, doctors have to study the subject for months, if not years -- consumers receive a 30 second ad showing beautiful people living beautiful lives ingesting pharmaceuticals.
(snark alert) To me, if drug companies were truly genuine in their desire to instigate conversations with their doctors about conditions their medications treat, then why aren't they running generic public interest ads about these treatable conditions instead of blatantly promoting their products? "Tired, can't sleep? See your doctor, she or he might be able to provide you with a sleep aid, and get a good night's sleep!" (/snark)
In 2009, PhRMA's spending rose 2% to $4.5 billion. That's more than $8,555 per MINUTE per day. How about using that money to lower the price of their products?