Healthy Skepticism Library item: 2376

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: Journal Article

Anonymous .
DTC advertising: Mixed messages
CMJ 2001 Dec; 133:(10):20

Abstract:

Drug manufacturers hoping to benefit from DTCA should heed the words of Ed Slaughter, director of research for the US magazine Prevention. He told a pharmaceutical industry conference that DTCA is least effective when it associates products with conditions, but noted that high expenditure helps, citing Claritin’s 75% recognition rate. Although advertising dollars have increased in the last three years, prescription numbers remain unchanged at around 85.6 million. Despite almost $2 billion spent on DTCA, only 28% of respondents in a 1999 survey throughout the US and Europe said they ask physicians to prescribe advertised medications. However, 84% of those patients received the requested drug. 30-50% of patients are more likely to comply with their medication regime if they have seen the drug advertised. ‘This is what makes DTC effective’, said Slaughter, ‘[Ads] make people feel better about the safety and benefits’. Rose Fishman of Phase 4 Health argued for a new direct-to-patient model of DTCA that links it to programs such as smoking cessation.

Keywords:
*news story/Canada/United States/Europe/