Should the Pharmaceutical Industry Advertise Directly to Consumers? If you're a car manufacturer, shouldn't you be allowed to advertise your products, directly to consumers? But some cars are safer than others, right? Some get better gas mileage. Some are more expensive than others. So if the cars you make are costly, get low mileage and are not as safe as the safest cars, should the government revoke your right to advertise them? These are the types of questions an FDA advisory committee is mulling over concerning direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising for prescription drugs. When the FDA issued a public call for comments on this matter, they received a petition signed by more than 200 U.S. medical school professors. According to a report in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), the petition criticizes DTC advertising because the "onslaught of advertising to promote prescription drugs…does not promote public health." I agree completely. But the pharmaceutical industry isn't a public utility; it's a business. They sell drugs, not health. And just like any business they should be allowed to advertise directly to consumers as long as they're not telling outright lies. It's up to consumers to be wise buyers and question what they see in commercials (and up to their doctors to make sure the drug is one the patient should be taking.) So, let me just be clear: On this point, I agree with Big Pharma - businesses should be allowed to advertise their products to end-users. But they should also admit that's what they're doing. Jeff Trewhitt - a spokesman for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) - offered the BMJ a hilarious explanation of drug industry advertising. He stated that direct-to-consumer drug advertising is "educational at a time when there is significant under-diagnosis and undertreatment of diseases that affect millions of Americans." Educational! Ah, it's all so obvious now! They're not selling drugs. They're providing a free education. And Jeff has some "think tank" expertise from Rand Health to back up his claim about undertreatment. Jeff points to a Rand study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that came up with this disturbing statistic: Nearly half of all U.S. adults fail to receive recommended health care. Can we really make the leap that "undertreatment" is the result of inadequate advertising? Because I'm willing to bet that it has more to do with the 2003 Census Bureau finding that well over 43 million Americans. can't afford health insurance. Or maybe they just need catchier jingles with their "education." Sources:
"Professors Speak Out Against Advertising Directly to Consumers" Jeanne Lenzer, British Medical Journal, 11/5/05, bmj.bmjjournals.com | 
