Direct-To-Consumer+Advertising

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= = =Overview=

Prescription drug companies have always used pharmaceutical sales representatives to sell and promote drugs to physicians. For the past 15 years a new trend has evolved in the promotion of pharmaceuticals. This new method is called Direct-to-Consumer advertising (DTCA). In essence it takes out the middle man and uses advertising mediums such as commercials, radio and magazines in order to sell drugs. This new form of advertising began as a result of an increase in patients making their own health care decisions. The advertising must first be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (Lewis, C). The FDA must first make sure that the information regarding the prescription drug in the advertisement must be, “truthful, balanced, and accurately communicated” (Lewis, C).

The primary message of the advertisement is to target the consumer directly. Instead of having those who believe they may be affected to go to their doctors, these advertisements provide all necessary information for the consumer. This is not only more convenient but allows those who wouldn’t normally consider themselves a candidate for this medication to go through a checklist of symptoms and possibly begin to think that they may need the drug as well. The symptoms provided are usually very general and can be applied to almost anyone. The advertisement provides a sense of hope for those suffering, and those who believe they are suffering.

=**Advertising in Canada**=

= = Advertising drugs directed to the public is banned in most countries and this includes Canada. Yet there has been direct-to-consumer advertising prevalent throughout Canada. There are three forms of direct-to-consumer advertising, “//product claim// advertisements, which include both the product name and specific therapeutic claims; //reminder// advertisements, which provide the name of a product without stating its use; and //help-seeking// advertisements, which inform consumers of new but unspecified treatment options for diseases or conditions” (Gardner et al.). All three of these forms can be seen throughout various types of media outlets in the United States. In Canada, on the other hand, all three of these seem to break the rules set out by the FDA, yet we still see help seeking and reminder advertisements (Gardner et al). Also the Food and Drugs act prohibits the advertising of drug use for treatment, or prevention of a serious disease, and the advertising of prescription only medicines. Yet there has been numerous problems with these prohibitions. Advertisements have been released without being reviewed by government regulators, and Health Canada sometimes has done nothing to stop this. Therefore it’s been shown that the regulations have been ignored and many prescription drug makers have used the direct-to-consumer advertising to boost sales and increase the awareness of new drugs.

=**Ethical Issues**=

The reasoning behind many peoples concerns with this type of advertising has to do with public safety. Prescription drugs are more toxic and potentially more harmful is misdiagnosed. They are also not as easy to self-diagnose and self-manage. Many of the drugs advertised are new and effects of these drugs are usually unknown. As a result there have been many drugs advertised and then later found to pose a serious risk to the consumers. Canada’s leading medical journal reports that, “20% of new drugs eventually receive new black box warnings on the product monograph after marketing or are withdrawn from the market because of serious safety concerns” (Gardner et al.).

In contrast, many believe that DTCA serves as a right to consumer information about prescription drugs. It is the belief that with more advertisement done there will be more awareness of the seriousness of some diseases, which may in turn promote early diagnosis. Other outcomes of this form of advertisement is better treatment where consumers have a greater knowledge to the available options for them, and improved health outcomes so that a better diagnosis can be determined with more knowledge and awareness of diseases.

=DTCA effects on sales=

The Kaiser Family Foundation and researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health conducted studies and looked at statistics regarding the effects DTCA has on sales. They examined advertising campaigns conducted from 1996 to 1999 on five therapeutic drug classes (kff). Considering the fact that drugs with higher sales would be advertised more often, the study found that, "for every 10% increase in DTC advertising, drug sales within the classes studied increased on average by 1%" (kff). The study also found that within the group considered, DTC advertising increased durg sales by 12% or $2.6 billion for the total drug sales in 2000 (kff). In 2001, The United states spent $140 billion on prescription drugs and this was three times as more spent then in 1990. Also to be considered, the study found that, "National prescription spending increased 16% from 2000 to 2001, compared to a 9% increase for physician and clinical services and an 8% increase for hospial care" (kff). This is an important finding to consider because if physician services and hospital care have only increased by 8 or 9 percent, then why has the spending on prescription drugs soared to 16%, what accounts for these differences? The answer lies in the increased use of DTCA. More prescriptions are being writted, costs for these prescriptions are increasing and there is an increase of new drugs on the market. With the direct promotion of drugs to consumers it is only evident that the market will become more competitive and there will be an increase of sales. With DTCA rising and restrictions on such advertising loosening we should expect the sales of prescriptions drugs to increase even more within the next several years.

Promotion of DTCA
It is obvious that with sales increasing so must the costs of advertising within the sector of pharmaceuticals. The Kaiser family foundation found that the manufacturers spent $9.2 billion in 1996 on DTCA, whereas the amount increased to $19.1 billion in 2001 (kff). The majority of advertising is still aimed at physicians as that was the original method of promoting existing and new prescrition drugs, but the DTC has increased greatly over the years. Manufactures are acknowledging the importance and worth of DTCA on increasing sales. There are various tactics manufacturers use in promotion and these include: detailing (29%, sales representatives provide information to physicians), sampling ( 55%,free drug samples given to physicians), DTCA (14%) and medical journal advertising (2%) (kff). All four of these tactics have grown in the past couple of years.

=Related Wiki Links=

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=References=

Lewis, C. The Impact of Direct-To-Consumer Advertising, About.com [online] Accessed on November 18th, 2006, from [|www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2003/203_dtc.html]

Gardner, D., Mintzes, B. and Ostry, A. Direct-To-Consumer Advertising in Canada: Permission by Default? Accessed on November 18th, 2006, from [|www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/169/5/425]

Direct-to-consumer advertising. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Available from : [|www.kff.org]

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