Healthy Skepticism Library item: 16073

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

Bandow D.
Answering the Critics: Five Reasons Why Pharmaceutical Marketing Helps, Not Hurts, Patients
InsiderOnline 2009 Jul 8
http://www.insideronline.org/summary.cfm?id=10557

Abstract:

President Barack Obama has tagged health care as one of his priorities. Although the U.S. is a global leader in quality of treatment, so too is it the leader in cost of care. And access to medical treatment is complicated by America’s patchwork of public programs, federal tax incentives, and private insurance policies. Rationalizing such a system is no mean task. But as these market processes evolve, government should regulate with a light hand. Other than restrictions on fraudulent or misleading marketing and advertising practices, companies should be left free to communicate with doctors and patients.