Those darned TV drug ads
Published: Monday, September 8, 2008 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Monday, September 8, 2008 at 9:06 a.m.
Do you feel achy, sneezy, depressed or fatigued?
Do you suffer from high cholesterol or heartburn? What about sexual dysfunction?
The ailments go on and on and so do the advertisements. In the barrage of 30-second TV commercials, viewers are overdosing on pharmaceutical ads and turning the industry into a multi-billion dollar business.
Medical experts say consumers are growing more reliant on pharmaceutical advertisements to diagnose, prescribe and treat a wide array of illnesses.
They warn that the onslaught of promotions has encouraged self-diagnosis, interfered with the traditional patient and doctor relationship and generated a perceived need to be on the latest, most expensive products on the market.
“It is very common for patients to come in if they have a problem and they heard about a medicine on TV,” said Dr. Steve Hubbard, a family physician at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Rosa.
“They think that is what they need and have an expectation that this is the medication I will prescribe.”
Sometimes patients enter Hubbard’s office sounding something like a commercial when they ask for drugs that require his prescription.
“I often tell my patients, ‘I think they are trying to sell you something. What do you think?’” he said.
Hubbard usually launches into a discussion with patients explaining whether or not a medication is right for them based on research, experience and data.
But not everyone has heeded this approach, because the ads are profitable, Hubbard said.
Medications that are the most advertised are also the ones that get most prescribed, he said.
Drugs such as the cholesterol-lowering Lipitor, the allergy-control Singulair or heartburn-reducer Nexium are on the top 10 list of products sold in the United States, according to IMS Health, a health care information company.
In 2007, prescription drug sales in the United States reached $286.5 billion.
And the cost of direct pharmaceutical advertising to U.S. consumers on TV, radio, newspapers and magazines, totaled $3.73 billion.
An effort to curb misleading advertisements heated up in May when House Democrats called a congressional hearing to examine direct-to-consumer-advertising and consider legislation that could levy stiffer regulations before ads are aired.
Leaders of many large pharmaceutical companies argued that direct advertising creates awareness about treatment options for ailments that might otherwise go untreated. It also opens a channel of dialogue between doctors and patients, they said.
Since 1997, when direct advertising to consumers debuted, several prescription drugs have come under scrutiny.
In a commercial for the drug Lipitor, artificial-heart inventor Robert Jarvik appeared administering medical information. Jarvik is not licensed to practice medicine.
Most recently, the results of a Norwegian study in July showed that the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin made no difference in the number of cases of heart attacks, strokes or valve-related surgeries but did find a link in the increased number of cancer cases for those who used the drug, according to wire reports.
Christine Del Grosso, co-owner of a Santa Rosa landscaping company, picked up a prescription last week and said she laughs at the ads that promise a quick fix in a bottle.
But, she said, it seems like the ads are becoming more prevalent and unrestricted. What is especially unappealing to her is the rundown of possible side effects usually mentioned in prescription drug ads.
“Why do I want to take something that is making me bleed out of my ear,” she said. “Nine times out of 10, the potential side effects are worse than what you’ve got.”
An example: ads for depression and anti-depressant medications that have side effects such as a reduced sex drive. She said the solution is counterintuitive.
“I’m depressed, so I’m going to take little pills that are going to make me not want to have sex,” she said hypothetically. “Yeah, right, like that’s going to help my depression.”
Ed Campion, a pharmacist for 38 years, said he spends all day working with prescription drugs at The Medicine Shoppe in Santa Rosa. When he gets home, he wants to relax and watch television — but there is no escape, he said.
“When I see it on TV, I blank it out,” he said. “It gives people a false impression that this drug is going to solve everyone’s problem.”
Hubbard recommends that all patients act as smart consumers by being aware that ads are intended to prey on people’s weaknesses, emotions, insecurities, and worst of all, their wallets.
“Nobody is immune,” he said. “We all need to hear this message: As smart as we think we are, we are no match for the advertisement community.”
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