Healthy Skepticism Library item: 20119

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: Magazine

Fountain B
Advertise and be damned
New Zealand Doctor 2000 Dec 202

Full text:

This month I attended a forum on the advertising of therapeutic products, held in Wellington and organised by advertisers. It was timely for me as my thoughts on the subject of direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising have been somewhat nebulous.

Yes, as a taxpayer I wanted the Government to spend wisely on medicines and I didn’t want the pharmaceutical companies cynically manipulating demand or creating false hopes among vulnerable consumers. On the other hand, I want access to improved drugs.

The forum suffered from a lack of a strong patient voice, though David Russell did represent the consumer in general.

Like others present I was disappointed at Pharmac’s early departure – merely an hour into the forum – this, despite health minister Annette King hailing the event as a great opportunity for all sides to debate the issues.

Four hours on my thoughts were consolidated. Forget eloquent arguments on the benefits and hazards of DTC advertising. For me it comes down to a question of free speech. Pharmaceuticals are legal, highly regulated products. To ban their advertising to consumers places them alongside tobacco and, to some extent, pornography.

I can appreciate Pharmac’s frustration at the demands generated by DTC advertising and the added pressures doctors can experience, but living in a democracy isn’t always easy.

The mistakes made by Pharmac in its widely disseminated submission to the ministry’s discussion document are inexcusable given its powerful position. And, if I seem partisan, let me say the RMI’s suggestion that DTC advertising, “Improves the overall efficiently of public healthcare spending” is rich, to say the least.

In Pharmac’s absence there appears general support for DTC advertising with further debate likely to revolve around the strictness of necessary controls.