Are drugs ads hazardous to your health?

The medical bill in this country is staggering – around $7,500 per person – more than any other country on the planet. There are many reasons for this, but prescription drug costs are a significant contributor. “These ads drive up costs dramatically," says Peter Lurie of the Health Research Group.

“We appreciate the fact that there’s a discussion about important issues like depression and diabetes in these ads,” says Dr. McGough. “But recommending specific drugs, especially those that have limited evidence of safety and effectiveness is not in the public’s best interest.”

That’s exactly what happened with Vioxx. The new arthritis drug was backed by a $100 million a year advertising campaign that resulted in 20-million Americans taking it. But Vioxx was no better than similar drugs already available. In 2004, when studies showed it doubled a person’s risk of heart attack and stroke, Vioxx was taken off the market.

Doctor-patient relationship
Dr. Jerry Avorn, a professor of medicine at Harvard and author of the book “Powerful Medicines,” would like to see prescription drug ads go away. “It introduces more noise than information,” he says. “Patients get the impression that they need to be given a drug when they may not need it.” Plus, he says, they don’t understand the potential risks.

A visit with the doctor these days isn’t very long. Dr. Avorn says a lot of that precious time is now spent explaining to patients why they don’t need the drug they want based on an ad they saw. “Doctors and patients don’t have enough time together to be able to waste it on silly things like that.”

My two cents
My father was a pharmacist, so I know and respect the benefit of prescription medications. I also know the power of advertising and how it can cause us to make irrational decisions. Maybe that’s why every country in the world, other than the U.S. and New Zealand, prohibit direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising.

It wasn’t always like this. Before 1997 drug companies could not pitch prescription drugs to consumers. But the Food and Drug Administration let the advertising genie out of the bottle and there’s no going back – there’s simply too much money at stake.

I have no problem with drug companies making a profit. But medical costs are out of control and something needs to be done. I believe drug ads need to be restricted and doctors need to resist pressure to prescribe.

Consumer groups want the government to prohibit pharmaceutical companies from running consumer ads until a prescription drug has been on the market for two years. That’s a good idea. It would provide time to discover unexpected problems before millions of people are on the medicine.

The bottom line: be skeptical of all prescription drug ads. Get your medical advice from your doctor or some other trusted source. , such as online at Medline Plus run by the National Institutes of Health and Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs.

More information

• New Drug Ads You Should Be Skeptical Of – or Ignore
• The Public on Prescription Drugs and Pharmaceutical Companies
• PhARMA on direct to consumer advertising
• 2006 GAO Report on Direct-to-Consumer Drug Ads

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