Congress Tries To Bottle Up Prescription Drug Ads
One reason health care is so expensive is pharmaceutical companies spend so much money buying TV and magazine ads to teach us about our health problems we weren't even aware of (restless leg syndrome, anyone?) then provide the wonderdrugs to cure the maladies.
Congressmen are targeting the practice, called direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, as part of the health care reform push, USA Today reports:
"There are legitimate reasons to criticize DTC, but it doesn't cause problems for pricing, it raises demand," says Bob Ehrlich, CEO of DTC Perspectives, a publishing and consulting company that specializes in DTC marketing. "As a citizen you have to take it for what it's worth. It's advertising. But it's advertising that has to be true."
Perhaps Viagra and Cialis will one day no longer be able do battle during timeouts of NFL broadcasts and magazine pages. But don't expect to see DTC go down without a fight. Drug companies see a 40 percent return on investment from the ads, the story says, so they'll call in whatever favors they can to keep DTC erect.
Push is on to end prescription drug ads targeting consumers [USA Today]
(Photo: sonyaseattle)
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Forget Viagra and Cialis, I'll give you the no. 1 culprit of Awkward Moments During Sports:
Avodart.
Those fucking commercials are so god damn cringe worthy when you're watching them with your parents and family.
This affects more than just the drug companies. A significant portion of TV revenue are all the advertising space purchased by big pharma. You might be seeing TV executives lobbying against this as well.
"It's advertising. But it's advertising that has to be true."
What does that even mean? No snark; I really don't understand what he's talking about.
On another note, I remember flipping on the TV one day and there they were, all those drug commercials. Especially the bike riding, mountain climbing, kayaking Valtrex lady. It really seemed like overnight, there was this big explosion. And I'm not very old. This was the last 10 years or so.
Oh no! Without DTC we could never have drugs to grow eyelashes and other really important, life-changing medications.
Jimmy legs! I want mah jimmy legs!
I love the Daily Show segment on those ads... The side effects are among other thing "urge to gamble" and quite possibly suicidal thoughts too (though i might be mistaken).
I'm sure there are millions of men in their 60s and 70s who were dangling a wet noodle until Viagra came along that are very happy for ED advertising.
The real problem is price fixing by pharmacies. Ever price check something @ a Costco pharmacy? Then call your local CVS, Walgreens, Rite-Aid... Guaranteed their prices will be substantially higher.
That's where the real cost of Rx drugs in - in the markup.
Erect!
Well played, good sir.
What bothers me about DTC ads is not that "Big Pharma" is trying to "buy" customers. All businesses advertise — even tobacco companies, who have many restrictions on their ad buys. There's nothing inherently wrong with a company advertising its products to its market.
What's bothersome about the DTC ads, is that they're targeting the wrong audience. By custom and by law, consumers are not assumed competent enough to know whether they should be taking any given drug. That's a decision for those who are competent to make that decision — i.e. physicians and other legitimate prescribers.
Yeah, I know the ads tell you to ask your doctor about the drug. And yeah, I know Big Pharma couches the ads as "educating the consumer" about various syndromes and problems. But let's face it, those are just legal evasions, and the idea that they're "educating" people is pure fiction. If they truly wanted to educate people about medical issues, they can do so without naming a drug.
I'm not one to tell companies they can't advertise ... heck, I've said before that tobacco companies ought to be able to offer TV ads. But Big Pharma selling prescription drugs direct to consumers, is just wrong. Consumers are not their market ... physicians and other prescribers are.
It's time we — and they — accepted this fact, and acted accordingly.
Ah, yes, Restless Leg Syndrome. Previously known as Dancin' Feet.
@I Love New Jersey: It works both ways -- the administration just promised to fix drug prices in exchange for $150M of pro-ObamaCare advertising from Big Pharma.
Chicago Way FTW!
i can't stand these DTC ads. it just seems wrong to me. If you have a condition, go to the doctor, get it checked out and let them prescribe something. People should not be walking into a doctor's office like it's a candy shop saying 'I want this' all because they saw a commercial.
I particularly enjoyed the adds when they could tell you name of the drug, but not what it was for.
"TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT NEWDRUG-A-LOR!! IT DOES STUFF YOU PROBABLY NEED!!"
I cringe when I see visions of hordes of people descending on their doctors demanding prescriptions when they don't even know what the pills do.
@emona: The FDA regulates drug advertisements to maintain clarity and honesty. Whereas something like Enzyte can say it'll make your penis bigger (it's an herbal supplement outside FDA regulations) an FDA regulated drug would require scientific proof to make that claim.
@Applekid:
You wake in the middle of the night with your legs twitching so much it also wakes your partner in bed. I assure you, that isn't dancing and it isn't fun.
The ad expense must be true. Between male enhancement and cholesterol medication, I have to think hard to remember any other commercials.
Friends from Europe are appalled and astonished by the drug ads on television here.
I am all for getting them off TV and out of my magazines. Especially the embarrassingly shmaltzy ones for erectile dysfunction meds. Nasty!
@CarlR: Until I saw commercials for PlaCeBo Glucose HCL I didn't realize how badly I needed it to get through the day.
Isn't the U.S. the only developed country that allows DTC prescription drug ads?
Why doesn't Congress tackle just 1 of the top 10 biggest return-on-effort health care issues? This is nothing but grunted swings at low-hanging fruit. All I've seen from this Congress so far is busy work and harassment of the private sector.
There are only TWO countries in the world that allow these drug ads, the US and New Zealand, and NZ is also considering legislation to remove them from the airwaves.
I work for a healthcare company, physicians specifically. There are too many accounts of patients coming in and DEMANDING some drug they've seen on TV convinced that they have these 'conditions' that no one ever heard of before the drug ad aired!!!
It needs to stop, and I would hope that these stupid ads WILL go away at some point in time. I can't stand them.
@CarlR: I'm pretty sure that under current regulations, if the company wants to say what the drug does, it has to say a bunch of other stuff like side effects. If you don't want to say that stuff, just don't say what it does.
@JustinSane07: Get a DVR. It's great feeling not even knowing what kind of BS the advertisers are peddling lately, now that I haven't watched TV commercials in so long.
@Audiyoda:
Nah. I worked in a pharmacy for almost a decade. Places like Costco are frequently selling at a loss. They count on you buying other stuff from their giant stores to make us for drugs being their loss leader.
Smaller places with less volume sales (Walgreens, CVS, et al.) are generally selling at cost/small markup. The pharmacy prophets barely cover the operating budget. Again, they count on drugstore sales to make up the for it.
Honestly, lost of those hyper-expensive drugs were being sold to the pharmacy itself at hundreds of dollars a bottle.
@SunnyLea:
Lord, it's like I was drunk.
"... to make *up* for drug being their loss leader."
"... count on drugstore sales to make up for it."
Sorry. I can type. Really.
they spend pretty much the same amount on R&D that they do on advertising and then claim drug prices are higher in the US because of R&D. why shouldn't other countries share the burden of it then?
If any of you have ever slept with someone who has restless leg syndrome you would not call it made up. My wife has it and when she does not take a pill before we go to bed it is like she is playing soccer all night long.
I wish people would stop picking on Restless Leg Syndrome. It most certainly is not a "made-up" disease. It exists, and I have a close relative that complained about having it for decades before those ads on TV (she called it "Jumpy Legs".) It's a real Pain In The A$$ and it isn't funny. It can really interfere with proper sleep and quality of life.
"Do you find yourself going to the bathroom during the day? Or maybe going to sleep at night? Then you need Vundershit!
"Vundershit can keep those dirty toxins inside your body all day, and will even keep you from wasting those precious hours during the night.
"Side effects include: double jointed nose, waking paralysis, 'walking loose bowel syndrome', and sudden painful death. In rare cases, patient's muscles grew outside of their skin causing a harmful and unwanted allergic reaction to oxygen."
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): It's a 'going' problem. Get it? They have to piss all the time and they miss out on life because it. That shit is awkward as all hell when you're watching the Sox with your 56 year old dad.
@johnva: I'm not watching games on DVR. What's the point? I already know the outcome by then.
@MostlyHarmless: Dr. Stephen T. Colbert for Prescott Pharmaceuticals is one of the best bits ever in television history.
Does anyone else remember the one where they made some comment about how women shouldn't touch the pills? I don't remember what it was for - but the ad ended with a disclaimer about women - even if they weren't pregnant - not going near the drug. That was comforting.
How about if they just add a provision to all the new health care laws that say no insurance is permitted to pay for a prescription drug which is advertised on television. That would put erection drugs and eyelash drugs and made-up leg problem drugs in their place, while leaving them available to those rich and foolish enough to want them.
@SunnyLea: If the CVS & Walgreens are counting on add-on sales for the Rx, then why would they put in drive-through windows?
Or is it ok to ask the pharmacist to fetch me some yoo-hoo, cheez-its and self-tanner?
Can they PLEASE stop the Enzyte commercials yet?
Boy, Congress seems to spend most of their time telling the "free" market how it needs to run.
I guess now we just have to settle for which evil we would rather endure.
@vladthepaler: I like that idea. But that means the government is rationing care by limiting coverage on certain drugs, and killing your grandpa and baby.
I rather keep it how it is now- my anti-malarial medication (Doxycycline) is not covered by my plan, but if I had erection problems, that would be covered.
@edison234: Having a convenience like a drive through pharmacy reinforces the customers belief that they made a good decision to choose CVS and they are more likely to choose CVS again when they need a drugstore item.
I understand that advertising increases demand for Rx drugs, but it doesn't follow that it causes costs for medicine in general to increase.
If I have an appendectomy, does it cost more because the drug companies are making big bucks on ED meds?
My new favorite is whatever piece of legislation says that you must list all of the side effects. I saw a commercial last night for Ambien CR and it was 15 seconds of ad and 45 seconds of side effects ranging from dry mouth to seizures(sp?) and death.
Given the amount of money big pharma has to rent the corrupt bastards on Capitol Hill, I think it is a safe bet that we'll be hearing the words "erectile dysfunction" in TV ads for years to come.