DIRECT – TO – CONSUMER DRUG ADS, DO THEY REALLY WORK?

I do not know the answer to this question, but I assume it does because pharmaceutical companies are smart enough not to waste billions of their advertising dollars if it doesn’t work.

According to a company that tracks TV ads, the pharmaceutical industry is ready to spend over $5 billion on TV ads this year alone.

It is interesting to know that direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertisements are allowed only in two countries in the World: the USA and New Zealand.

As a physician, I principally never prescribed a new drug until it’s truly tested in the marketplace and found to be safe and effective.

A 2023 study has clearly shown that only 1/3 of most common drugs advertised on TV were found to have high therapeutic values.

TV drug ads, as a physician, annoy me a great deal. First, they tell us how great the drug is, then they tell us all its side effects which scares us away. Then they insult our intelligence by saying, “call your doctor immediately if you have any of these side effects”, as if we don’t know what to do for our own healthcare.

Unrestricted drug ads on TV, besides creating extremely uncomfortable visual and aural pollution of our home screen, increases the cost of a drug, cause over treatment of an illness with much more expensive medications when there are cheaper alternatives.

As I see it, direct-to-consumer ads are a symptom of corporate medical care which is taken over the health care system in America, that prioritize profit over the preventative and proper medical care.

It is time for the Federal government to end direct-to-consumer ads on TV, as it has done with cigarettes.