Should Prescription Drugs Be Advertised Directly to Consumers?

Zachary Douglas Justin Michael

Discussion Type: Pass and Play

Group is in a circular pattern and

participates are facing inward. The participants use an item to designate the speaker and who is "on-deck" to speak.

Rules

No interruption when someone is speaking Criticize the ideas, not the person Encourage everyone to participate

Person with the purple bottle has the freedom to speak Person with the white bottle is "on-deck" to speak

*Any students that state comments deemed inappropriate by the teacher will receive a warning and then a second offense will result in removal from discussion

Quick Survey
1. How many of you can recall an advertisement of any drug, either in a commercial, magazine, internet, etc?
2. Have any of you talked to your doctor about a drug you saw advertised? 3. Have any of you known someone who is currently taking a drug that is advertised? 4. How many of you think that drug companies are using too much money to promote their drug? 5. Do you think there is an overload of drug advertisement? 6. Do you think that the mass advertisement of drugs are influencing people desire to be medicated?

Question 1:

How are prescription drugs advertised directly to consumers (DTC)?

Question 2:
The FDA has a board on the Guiding Principles on Direct-to-Consumer Advertisement About Prescription Medication, that ensure claims are supported by sustainable evidence, reflect a balance between risks and benefits, and must be consistent with FDA-approved labeling. What are the benefits and drawback to this checks-and-balances system by the FDA?

Here is an example
1.What are the claims in the commercial?
2. Look for a balance between risks and benefits. 3. Was there any information provided about FDA-approved labeling?

Question 3:
Why do you think the United State and New Zealand are the only countries that allow DTC advertising?

Question 4:

The DTC advertisements are claimed to help people become better aware of symptoms that are treatable, but if you saw multiple advertisement for the same treatment what would you do to compare the medications?

Money Issue:
The IMS is a firm specializing in pharmaceutical market intelligence and the CAM is a global company dedicated to auditing promotional activities of the pharmaceutical industry.

Money Issue:
Essential they collect data in different ways on promotional spending in areas of medication sampling, journal advertising, detailing, and other promoting methods; which helps triangulate more accurate information on how much money is spent on promotions. Conclusion: Companies spend almost twice as much on promotion than research and development .

Question 5:
Page 53, Table 1.
Using IMS and CAM records on promotional spending data the new approximate promotional spending is 57.5 billion dollars. Why would companies use this much money to promote their product instead of using it for research and development?

Question 6:
What methods would be more effective to give information to consumers about new drugs without spending significant amounts on advertising?

References

Gilbody, S., Wilson, P., & Wyatt, I. , (2005). Benefits and harms of direct to consumer advertising: a systematic review. Qual Saf Health Care. 14(4), pp.246-250