Healthy Skepticism Library item: 10448

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Woloshin S, Schwartz L.
Drug-ad smarts
Consumer Reports on Health 2007 May
http://www.consumerreports.org/oh/toc/may-2007/may-2007.htm

Full text:

How well do drug ads inform consumers?

The Food and Drug Administration requires that the ad says what the drug is for. Drug ads do that, but they give almost no information about how well the drug actually works. Instead we see images of people who are doing terribly and then seem completely better. When you see the ad for the sleeping pill eszopiclone (Lunesta), for example, you think it will give you eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. Clinical studies show that, on average, people who used Lunesta slept about 40 minutes longer than those who took a placebo. But 9 percent of people taking Lunesta also felt drowsy during the daytime, vs. just 3 percent with placebo. So Lunesta is by no means a cure for insomnia.

What’s the deal with that long list of side effects that the fasttalking announcer reads?

The regulation requires that the ads mention side effects but gives no guidance on how to present them. An example is ropinirole (Requip), the drug for restless legs. The benefit is pretty modest over placebo, yet 40 percent in the drug studies had nausea, compared with 8 percent on placebo. If a drug works really well, they might tolerate a long list of side effects, but not if it doesn’t.

Do the ads influence drug sales?

Drug companies spent over $5 billion on direct-to-consumer ads in 2006. That’s more than the FDA’s total budget. If ads didn’t increase revenue for the drug companies, they wouldn’t do it. The Requip ads even sparked demand for the lounge chair they showed. The drugs you see advertised are the newest and most expensive ones. People don’t realize that the FDA approves drugs based on pretty small studies. Requip was approved on the basis of three 12-week studies, which involved a total of about 900 people, and one 36- week study of about 100 people. Yet people may take it for years or a lifetime.

Copyright 2007 by Consumers Union of U.S., Inc. Yonkers, NY 10703-1057, a nonprofit organization. Reprinted with permission from the May 2007 issue of Consumer Reports On Health® for educational purposes only. No commercial use or reproduction permitted. www.ConsumerReportsonHealth.org.