Doctors’ group opposes drug ads
The days may be numbered for the ubiquitous prescription drug ads aimed at every ailment from diabetes and asthma to erectile dysfunction and toenail fungus.
In a move that took many by surprise, the American Medical Association this week adopted a policy to convince federal authorities to ban all prescription drug advertising from the airwaves, in print and even on social media.
“The vote in support of an advertising ban reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially driven promotions and the role that marketing costs play in fueling escalating drug prices,” the AMA’s board chairwoman, Dr. Patrice Harris, said in a statement.
The call for a ban is also in response to worry that the proliferation of direct-to-consumer advertising unduly influences patients into requesting specific drugs they might have seen on television rather than more appropriate, often less expensive, choices.
Locally, Dr. Patrick Carter, medical director for care coordination and quality improvement at Kelsey-Seybold Clinic in Houston, echoed the AMA’s concern that the ads could bias consumers toward the most heavily advertised medications as well as their potential for making false promises that outweigh the benefits. Ultimately, Carter said, doctors are best suited to decide should be prescribed in individual cases.
“The doctor-patient relationship needs to work both ways,” he said.
While doctors welcome input from patients and appreciate when they are well-informed, he said, “the doctor does have
more experience and more knowledge.”
Carter did not attend the AMA’s policymaking meeting in Atlanta at which the voice vote was made. But he said he is well aware of the controversy.
Last year the pharmaceutical industry spent $4.5 billion on the ads, up 30 percent in just two years, the AMA said. By some estimates most major drug companies now spend more on marketing than research and development. High research and development costs have often been blamed for the expense of drugs.
Don’t expect the pharmaceutical companies to fall silent without a fight.
The industry counters that the drug ads are educational and help provide patients with information to take with them to the doctor amid a shift to more informed consumers who are active in their own care, according to Tina Stow, spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America trade association.
It seems astonishing that something so common today was in fact virtually nonexistent a generation ago.
In 1981 a few drug companies made a small entrance into previously uncharted waters, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration slapped a moratorium on all direct-to-consumer advertisements for more research, according to a history of direct-to-consumer advertisement published in the Milbank Quarterly.
The ads reappeared but for years almost exclusively in print because of FDA requirements that they include a summary of the drugs complete with dosage, side effects and warnings. Such explanations did not translate well into short, breezy TV ads.
Then in 1996 an ad appeared with Cole Porter’s “Blue Skies” playing for a product called Claritin. To skirt the complex regulations, the spot never said what the medication was for, just that it would provide “clear days and nights” with added instruction to “ask your doctor.”
The ad forced the FDA’s hand, and in 1997 former guidelines were relaxed and instead of requiring the previous summary, drugmakers only had to direct consumers to a magazine ad, an 800 number or a website, according to a history of drug advertising published by Public Citizen. The floodgates were open.
The AMA, as part of its campaign, will encourage regulators to limit “anticompetitive behaviors” by the pharmaceutical industry that potentially restrict consumer access to generic drugs, a statement from the medical group said.
While acknowledging it is a hefty task to take on something so ingrained in the culture, the AMA pointed to the success in banning tobacco ads from the airwaves in 1970.