Does it cure Boneitis?

The outfit our presenter is wearing makes me not want to believe her. Perhaps she could use a lab coat.....

They should have used the name for an erectile dysfunction drug instead.

One of the first Boniva comercials I saw, Sally Feild
was going on about a friend of hers that had to take
her medicine "once a day!!!!!!" like this all but ruined
you life.

That being said I always thought Sally Field was
hot and I want to have her babies:)

@working class Zer0: Now it's more like grandbabies.

I think that I will start the First Church of Jamie Hirsch's Cardigan. It compels me!

@working class Zer0: You like her! You really like her!

Bonivia is actually pretty awful. My mother was on it and despite being relatively healthy, developed a huge and painful cyst in her calf. Thankfully she didn't need surgery, but she had to be in the hospital. Once off the Bonivia, the cyst went away. Horrific. She was in so much pain, I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

I really don't understand the point about "even if this is covered by your insurance, maybe you shouldn't take it, because it drives up overall costs." That makes no sense - my deciding to take the drug vs. one that's cheaper to my insurance company isn't going to change anything - I'm not going to save any money, and my rates aren't going to come down. If EVERYBODY made the switch, then it might have an impact, but, unless everybody's looking to me to decide what to take, there's no point in me taking something that's less effective and more of a hassle.

My mom takes it, and it actually has increased her bone density, and she hasn't said anything about side effects. In fact the video says those really bad side effects are "very rare." The rest of the stuff has to do with drug costs, not specifically with Boniva.

@NeverLetMeDown: but if everybody thinks like that and goes for the most expensive one then how would costs ever come down? It has to start somewhere. And if the "benefit" is just that you take it less often, is it really worth anybody (you or your insurer) paying ten times more for it? Especially when the cheaper versions are still only weekly or at worst daily? Taking a pill once a week is really that bad? What about people that are on regimens that have them taking multiple pills multiple times per day?

You choosing the more expensive drug not only keeps costs high for you but for everybody else since costs are shared.

@B: "My only regret is that I have... Boneitis!"

@NeverLetMeDown: Except as the video clearly states the alternative drugs are just as effective.

@NeverLetMeDown

Do you not vote either, because your one vote doesn't make a difference?

PS - Are the reply links broken again?

@thomas_callahan

Are you on long-term medication? I have been, and I can tell you that taking something once a week versus daily is a huge difference. Depending on the half-life of the drug, a daily pill can cause withdrawal symptoms if the schedule is missed.

These videos are really bad reporting, as if Consumer Reports studied VH1's Best Week Ever to see how they should do on camera reporting. Instead of giving the facts, they add in snarky comments, but just "lightly" snarky so they are not even amusing.

What's with this silly remark: "Finally, the use of celebrities in drug advertisements raises all sorts of questions, from the ethical (Do celebs really use the drugs they promote?) to the trivial (Who is Sally's hair stylist?)."? Consumer Reports seems to do better with vacuum cleaners.

@T Axel Jones

Just as effective, but you need to take them 4-30x as often as this one, and no food/water and no lying down for 1/2 hour after each one. Might be as effective, but not nearly as convenient.

Wow. They have the money for FDA approval, yet no money for a good mic? Hear that echo?

@NeverLetMeDown:

It won't take 'everyone' to make an impact.

The more people who take the expensive drug, the more expensive it is for the insurance company.

Is your rate going to go down because you are on the generic? No. But could it go up 10% instead of 9% next year because Sally convinced several people on your plan to take it? Maybe.

@ryatziv: OK, then assuming that this drug does have withdrawal symptoms, reserve use of that specific drug to people who routinely forget and for every other person that can use the regular 90% cheaper version, use the savings to lower insurance costs.

I really don't mean to be insensitive but medical problems are sometimes inconvenient. 90% cheaper is a HUGE savings at the cost of a minor inconvenience for most people, and this drug company is pushing that benefit because that's the only marketing angle they have.

If marketing of drugs was limited to physicians as it should be, this drug would probably be prescribed as I suggest -- they'd prescribe the daily or weekly drugs and if someone had trouble sticking to that, they'd opt for the monthly one. It's only because they can convince the patient directly that anything more frequent than monthly is an unbearable burden that they're able to increase their market by having the patient go in and demand the monthly one up front.

I know it's a free market, but drug and insurance prices are out of control and this is one of the many reasons why. They're developing drugs that aren't really necessary, using direct marketing to build a market that wouldn't exist otherwise, and increasing everybody's costs by doing it. Meanwhile we have millions of people with no healthcare at all because they can't afford insurance.

And yes, this report sucked, sorry CR but the petty comments cheapen it.

OMG - what has CReports done? What makes them 'experts' in the health field? Any doctor that is good would tell their patient the same thing - and only suggest this item if their patient is in need of it.

If CR on Health is saying there are a lot of lousy doctors - then REPORT ON THEM.

CR does not test these drugs. CR does NOT know any more than anyone who can google search and read up on ANY medication.

I've always been leery of them going into a field they are not expert in. Travel - yes. They had some very good people who searched and told us about scams and deals.

Health and drugs are not the same thing. They're playing with YOUR health.

Jim Guest - please stop the madness. Stick to what you know. Consumerist is a great addition to what the roots of CR are.

Shut up you boners, it was entertaining and informative. CR is awesome

Does nobody realize WHY pharmaceuticals are so expensive while they're still in patent? It's not because they're trying to drive up the cost of your insurance premiums. Companies like Pfizer, Merck, and Lilly spend billions of dollars every year on research and development to discover and create medications that help millions of people worldwide. It's not a cheap business to be in. The only way that pharma companies are able to develop new solutions to medical problems so quickly and regularly is because they're able to recoup the cost of R&D during the in-patent period on a drug.

Have you noticed how all the big pharmaceutical developments come from the United States? That'd be because we don't have socialized medicine here, so the companies can actually charge what they need to charge in order to continue financing R&D on other drugs. If the left got their way and forced down drug prices to what they deem affordable, pharmaceutical development would slow to a crawl.

LOVE Sally Field and think these commercials make me wish I needed Boniva. However, Direct To Consumer advertising is way out of hand and needs to be outlawed when it comes to drugs like this.