Healthy Skepticism Library item: 6857

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

Hoffman JR, Wilkes M.
Direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs: An idea whose time should not come.
BMJ 1999; 318:1301-2
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/318/7194/1301

Abstract:

Direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs is expanding dramatically in the United States. This practice will inevitably drain healthcare dollars, dramatically increase unnecessary prescribing and strain patient-doctor relationships.

Keywords:
*editorial/United States/United Kingdom/Food and Drug Administration/patient demands/ quality of prescribing/direct-to-consumer advertising/DTCA/INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: CONSUMERS AND PATIENTS/INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: PRESCRIBING, DRUG USE/PROMOTIONAL TECHNIQUES: DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER ADVERTISING Advertising* Great Britain Pharmaceutical Preparations* United States

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...to influence multinational corporations effectively, the efforts of governments will have to be complemented by others, notably the many voluntary organisations that have shown they can effectively represent societyâ€™s public-health interestsâ€¦
A small group known as Healthy Skepticism; formerly the Medical Lobby for Appropriate Marketing) has consistently and insistently drawn the attention of producers to promotional malpractice, calling for (and often securing) correction. These organisations [Healthy Skepticism, MÃ©decins Sans FrontiÃ¨res and Health Action International] are small, but they are capable; they bear malice towards no one, and they are inscrutably honest. If industry is indeed persuaded to face up to its social responsibilities in the coming years it may well be because of these associations and others like them.
- Dukes MN. Accountability of the pharmaceutical industry. Lancet. 2002 Nov 23; 360(9346)1682-4.