5 Blogs Before Lunch: Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising: Marketing, Education or Deception?

Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising: Marketing, Education or Deception?

I have spoken my peace about drug marketing before. Now it is time for Congress, and the Los Angeles Times to weigh in.

There's an excellent article in this morning's 'Times (yes, the other one you NY-focused fanatics) that tackles the controversial issue of whether or not ads on TV for prescription drugs frequently go too far in touting a particular pill's benefits without adequately presenting the risks, and how the basic nature of consumer-directed prescription drug advertising has altered the doctor/patient relationship.

Marketing, it seems has changed the relationship dynamic, with patients essentially calling the shots when it comes to prescription drugs. The whole issue has been the focus of a recent congressional hearing that asked the question, "Direct-to-Consumer Advertising: Marketing, Education or Deception?"

From The Los Angeles Times:

This isn't a new debate. But one particularly striking aspect of last week's hearing was that it pitted doctors against drug companies, with the former saying that DTC ads do more harm than good and the latter basically ignoring what the doctors had to say.

Doctors dislike DTC ads because the campaigns typically place marketing ahead of education and force doctors to dissuade patients from demanding some drug they saw on TV rather than accepting a cheaper generic version or an alternative therapy. Drug makers, needless to say, see things differently.

Here is their take on the situation:

"Surveys show that DTC advertising brings patients into their doctors' offices and helps start important doctor-patient conversations about conditions that might otherwise go undiagnosed or untreated," Ken Johnson, senior vice president of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement.

According to the LAT, spending on DTC advertising more than quadrupled from 1996 to 2005, from $985 million to $4.2 billion. Total promotional spending by the pharmaceutical industry rose to $29.9 billion in 2005 from $11.4 billion in 1996. This clearly is an issue, and a controversial one at that, that will not go away any time soon.

05:57 AM in Advertising, Marketing Trends | Permalink