Opposition Increases to Prescription Drug Ads

Are you fed up with prescription drug ads? If so, you are not alone.
For the last several years Americans have been bombarded with commercials that promote drugs for satisfying sex or overactive bladder. Readers have complained about trying to explain erectile dysfunction or PMS to pre-teens.
Such ads are almost uniquely American. Except for New Zealand, no other country in the industrialized world permits prescription drugs to be advertised straight to consumers. You can’t run to the store to buy any of these products. They all require a doctor’s prescription.
Some physicians are also getting sick and tired of the hard sell. At a recent meeting of the American Medical Association, several resolutions were introduced urging restrictions or even an outright ban on direct-to-consumer commercials.
Doctors supporting the resolutions tried to convince their colleagues to take action. When the pharmaceutical industry got wind of this effort, it responded quickly. Its Washington lobbyists usually put pressure on Congress, but that week they went to the AMA national meeting in Chicago instead.
Whether the professional persuaders were successful, or whether most doctors are lukewarm on the issue, we don’t know. The AMA concluded the discussion by resolving to study the question for another year.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) must have been pleased. This drug industry trade organization maintains that such ads improve patients’ awareness of disease and encourage them to visit their doctors.
One ad proponent, Richard E. Ralston, Executive Director of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine, says, “Keeping patients barefoot and ignorant is not the solution. Despite the tireless efforts of pharmaceutical salesmen, physicians in general practice or internal medicine can’t possibly keep up with all the features of the many new drugs and how they might apply to every patient.When you see a commercial for a new drug it offers the potential to make somebody feel better. Let’s leave those commercials and the drug companies alone.”
The trouble is that many 30-second commercials don’t actually provide much balanced scientific information. They are designed to make drugs seem appealing rather than to present benefits and risks clearly so they can be evaluated.
That’s why Vioxx became so successful and was taken by many people for whom it may not have been appropriate. We now know, of course, that some of those patients might have suffered heart attacks needlessly.
No wonder some doctors are annoyed. They complain that patients hassle them to prescribe drugs they’ve seen on television. Doctors resent spending valuable time explaining why an advertised medicine might be inappropriate.
Even though the AMA has deferred its decision on consumer drug advertising for
a year, patients should still be cautious.
Before begging a doctor for a heavily advertised, high-priced prescription, do your homework. Find out what the most common or dangerous side effects are. Sift through the fine print to see who should not take it.
Once you have accurate information, you and your doctor can consider carefully whether the new drug is the right one for you.