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As TV Drug Ads Increase, So Do Concerns
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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> Concerns about drug ads focus on several issues:
- Do they prompt patients to ask for the wrong treatment? "The side effects get read out very quickly," Russo said. "The ads also can give a very misleading idea of what the benefit of the drug is." People could be asking for drugs from a doctor without having a solid understanding of what they could gain or lose by taking the medication.
- Do the ads lead to overprescribing? Patients come in asking for a medication they saw on television, and many doctors will probably go along with the requests rather than argue with their patients, Frosch said. "Doctors and patients don't have a lot of time. About 15 minutes these days," he said. "If a patient asks for a product and the doctor thinks it's not an appropriate product, it could take some time for a patient to be dissuaded."
- Do the ads increase medical costs and patient risks? Experts say this could happen because the ads generally promote newer, more expensive and less-tested drugs over tried-and-true medications. Pharmaceutical companies spend their advertising money marketing drugs that are just hitting the market, and people are more likely to ask for those new medications than allow their doctor to provide them with an older, more established drug that could be just as effective, Russo said. This increases medical costs because the newer drugs are more expensive, and patients are at greater risk because newer drugs have not been "road-tested," he said.
As an example, Russo cited Vioxx, a pain medication that was heavily marketed by its maker but later yanked off shelves when it became apparent the drug increased the risk of heart attack in some people.
"The fact that it was so heavily marketed magnified its ultimate damage," Russo said.
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Frosch provided a basic prescription for improving the ads and making them more helpful to consumers: Clearly describe who the drug will help and provide accurate and unemotional information about its benefits and risks.
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Copyright © 2009 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Last updated 10/4/2009
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SOURCES: Michael Russo, J.D., health-care advocate and staff attorney, California Public Interest Research Group, Los Angeles; Dominick L. Frosch, Ph.D., assistant professor, general internal medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles
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