If change is to come to health care, banning the advertisement of prescription drugs would be the single most progressive and cost effective step we could take. Big pharma has an undue influence over legislators, doctors, and med schools. A rational approach to health care reform requires the government to eliminate pharmaceutical Direct to Consumer marketing The research on TV drug ads, done by the FDA and medical journals clearly indicate that physicians are more likely to prescribe a drug if queried, and medications in general are more likely to be over prescribed or mis-prescribed.
There are now two registered pharma lobbyists for every member of congress. Although the spending on drug ads has jumped to over ten billion a year, the FDA budget has not kept pace, and the agency charged to regulate big pharma is incapable of dealing with the onslaught of new drugs and old snake oil. In fact, it was a Deputy Commissioner of the FDA Dr. Michael Friedman, who, in 1996, allowed the drug companies to advertise; a rule change enacted without the advise or approval of congress. Several months after the decision, Dr. Friedman became the Senior Vice President of the pharma company Searle.
The United States and New Zealand are the only countries that allow pharmaceutical companies to advertise directly to the consumer. The result of this act has been a meteoric rise in health costs and insurance rates, declining public health and increasing infant mortality. Any progress in health care reform must begin with banning prescription drug ads. It is a simple but essential step in loosening the stranglehold that big pharmaceuticals have on the regulatory agencies and our representatives. It's bad enough the public has to view the ads, but current tax laws have pharmas getting deductions for airing them. Close those loopholes that classify marketing dollars as research and development expenses.
Not only are we bombarded with new drugs, but the public is innundated with new ailments that we were blissfully unaware. Restless leg syndrome, anyone?
Stopping tv ads is an essential part of a health care reform program that eventually brings prices down to the point where it wouldn't be necessary for seniors to buy in Canada or Mexico. Can't we use the power of the government to buy in bulk for the taxpayer funded programs?
The list and amount of contributions of drug companies to politicians is long and large. Can Obama step up?