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Healthy Skepticism Library item: 8917

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

Newton G, Popovich NG, Pray WS.
Rx-to-OTC switches: from prescription to self-care.
J Am Pharm Assoc (Wash) 1996 Aug; NS36:(8):488-95


Abstract:

One often hears, “The only thing certain is change.” Change, whatever its nature, is fraught with uncertainty. Product switches from prescription to nonprescription status are no exception. These transitions pose immediate challenges to consumers and to the health care professional, who may be poorly prepared to confront them. However, the benefits are tangible and profound. On the whole, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks; FDA should be recognized for facilitating this process.

Keywords:
Drugs, Non-Prescription* Humans Patient Education* Pharmacists* Self Medication

 

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Cases of wilful misrepresentation are a rarity in medical advertising. For every advertisement in which nonexistent doctors are called on to testify or deliberately irrelevant references are bunched up in [fine print], you will find a hundred or more whose greatest offenses are unquestioning enthusiasm and the skill to communicate it.

The best defence the physician can muster against this kind of advertising is a healthy skepticism and a willingness, not always apparent in the past, to do his homework. He must cultivate a flair for spotting the logical loophole, the invalid clinical trial, the unreliable or meaningless testimonial, the unneeded improvement and the unlikely claim. Above all, he must develop greater resistance to the lure of the fashionable and the new.
- Pierre R. Garai (advertising executive) 1963