TV drug ad study

[sunnyjohn]

Did you guys see the story this morning on "Good Morning America" about drug advertising?

Someone did a study were they sent actors with hidden recorders into doctor's offices. They actor's would describe symptoms from severe depression that should be treated with medication, to vague symptoms that would not benefit from a prescription.

They study concluded that if a patient asked for a drug by name they were more likely to receive it.

They said that most people were more likely to ask for drugs by name because the saw an ad on TV.

One group is recommended a three-year ban on TV advertising for all new drugs to weed out the bad stuff.

What do you guys think?

Agape

[BeachNurse]

Lots of generalizations here. About the research study, aside from the JAMA/Wash.Post connections here (ironic), I would like to know what types of physicians were studied. Again it is still their responsibility to evaluate their patients thoroughly. Just as a drug company can skew data, so can anyone else to further their own agenda.

I personally work with drugs companies, including Glaxo, and I am a coordinator for a couple of their studies. All of the drugs are life-saving ones, and ones that are not "almost identical" to those already out on the market. Let's see..do you ever see ads for drugs that treat rheumatoid arthritis or high cholesterol? I wonder if these can be faked by patients. If we did not develop new drugs, we would never get anywhere. Most competent and responsible physicians prescribe what is BEST for the patient and try to keep the costs low. I think it is a scary line we cross when we blame advertising for all of society's ills.

[lsyorke, RN]

"All of the drugs are life-saving ones"

Are you saying that all drugs are life saving, or the ones that you work on are life saving?? If it's the former, that's a BIG generalization!

If there's no truth to the article then why are the drug companies advertising?? They advertise(and spend billions doing it!) because they know that we are a pill popping society that will take a pill rather than maybe make a lifestyle change! Why advertise an arthritis drug that you can only get from the doctor??If it's that good then the doctor will know about it and prescribe it. Commercials put the drugs name in the patients brain and then they want the "miracle" cure that the commercial advertises. Even if it's not appropriate for them or if another drug is just as effective and cheaper. It's all about the money.

[BeachNurse]

"All of the drugs are life-saving ones"

Are you saying that all drugs are life saving, or the ones that you work on are life saving?? If it's the former, that's a BIG generalization!

If there's no truth to the article then why are the drug companies advertising?? They advertise(and spend billions doing it!) because they know that we are a pill popping society that will take a pill rather than maybe make a lifestyle change! Why advertise an arthritis drug that you can only get from the doctor??If it's that good then the doctor will know about it and prescribe it. Commercials put the drugs name in the patients brain and then they want the "miracle" cure that the commercial advertises. Even if it's not appropriate for them or if another drug is just as effective and cheaper. It's all about the money.

I am an experienced certified clinical research coordinator, so no, I am not ignorant enough to say that ALL drugs are life-saving. The ones that I work with ARE. "It's all about the money" ? No, it isn't all about the money. Although drug companies seek to increase sales via advertising (by having patients ask their doctor (read: reminding them the drug is out there), they simply cannot ASK for a drug by name. Any doctor that prescribes a drug based soley on what drug the patient wants is a quack.

Again, WHAT KINDS OF DOCTORS WERE OBSERVED IN THE STUDY? How did the patients end up with these psych med scripts for SEVERE DEPRESSION? Can you say malpractice?? Did they ask for Paxil by name? My sister had depression symptoms and was put on Elavil..THAT one ain't advertised on T.V.

I have neither the time nor patience to explain the big picture to you. You see the side that you want to see. I see the research and medical breakthroughs from the inside out. Do a little more learning about research studies and think about all the possible variables before making a grand generalization from one article.

[lsyorke, RN]

When I start seeing ALL of the results of clinical trials made public I might have the same attitude about the drug companies that you do. But in the last year alone the incidence of "hidden" and "suppressed" clinical trial information has made me VERY skeptical of drug companies. You see, the "suppressed" paxil clinical trials almost cost my son his life. Clinical trials that have specific goals in mind and ignore(or hide) data that shows up as "we weren't looking for that information so it wasn't analyzed". The most blatant was when the "Target" of a clinical trial was"To effectively manage the dissemination of this data to minimize the potential negative commercial impact". Sorry, they have to earn my trust again. I would recommend reading Overdosed America, by DR. John Abramson. Eye opening!

[BeachNurse]

I am sorry to hear about your son. My own son, who has had a multitute of health problems including liver failure and cancer during his 12 years, is alive today due to a new medication he started on when it was still not an FDA approved drug. When our children are hurt we look to blame someone, because no one can replace them, so I understand your anger and your pain. Take care.

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

Lets take the drug ads off the TV

Lets Take the Lawyer ads off the TV, I remember when lawyers werent allowed to advertise on TV

Lets take the Alcohol ads off the TV

Lets take the feminine hygiene ads off the TV

Lets take those before and after diet ads off the TV

In truth take all the ads off the TV, in truth dont we all pay whats really an obonoxious amount of money just to have the ability to watch TV We get TV with over 100 channels offered nowadays, and for what to see mostly ads.Mostly stuff we arent interested in. Wouldnt we all be better off and healthier going outside to play, work in our yards, chat with our neighbors, exercising, golfing.

[Lawnurse]

"The onus is on the physician, NOT the drug companies, to give proper diagnosis, care and medications."

And the onus is on the drug companies to do non-biased, accurate clinical trials and report ALL findings to the medical journals, regardless of good or bad.Then doctors would have ALL the information that they need to prescribe safely.

And drug companies need a way to pay for it all this research. Drug companies create new drugs because they bring in money. Where else would we get new drugs if drug companies did not have an incentive to make them?

BTW, although my opinion may sound biased for drug companies, I've been victim to the adverstising myself - although by proxy. I suffere from bad eczema and my boyfriend pratically begged me to try Elidel, even though the first time I asked a doctor about it she didnt' know enough about the drug and chose not to prescribe it. Finally I did ask my doctor for the Elidel prescription, partly to quiet my boyfriend about it (after lecturing him on how he was a victim of drug marketing). Literally the day I finished the giant tube of Elidel, my doctor email me to tell me about the black box warning they are adding to Elidel.

Also, you have to consider that shows like GMA depend on ratings - people love to hate big drug companies, so GMA designed a study to show how very bad they are. GMA is not peer reviewed - we have no idea if they conducted a study previously that showed there was no bias, then reconstructed the "research" to show the desired result.

This wouldn't be nearly such a problem if more people had Tivo. :chuckle

[sunnyjohn]

This wouldn't be nearly such a problem if more people had Tivo. :chuckle

I agree. Do you notice now that when you go to set your TIVO to record a show, the show now start at odd times like 8:59 or 9:01 instead of 9? That is the networks caving in to throw the bootleggers off and to keep you watching the ads live.....

Lets take the drug ads off the TV

Lets Take the Lawyer ads off the TV, I remember when lawyers werent allowed to advertise on TV

Lets take the Alcohol ads off the TV

Lets take the feminine hygiene ads off the TV

Lets take those before and after diet ads off the TV

In truth take all the ads off the TV, in truth dont we all pay whats really an obonoxious amount of money just to have the ability to watch TV We get TV with over 100 channels offered nowadays, and for what to see mostly ads.Mostly stuff we arent interested in. Wouldnt we all be better off and healthier going outside to play, work in our yards, chat with our neighbors, exercising, golfing.

Lets just turn the TV off!

[lsyorke, RN]

Lawnurse, believe me I had no problem with the drug companies until I found myself standing in front of an FDA advisory committee hearing fighting with alot of other families for the black box warning on ssri's and children and teens. The information was there for years, but was never presented to the FDA. And then when it was presented it took from Fec/2004 until Jan/2005 to finally get the warnings. I don't hate all drugs, nor all drug companies. I do feel that they have a responsibility to make ALL information that they have available to doctors and patients. In response to the they need money to do R&D, take a look at how much is spent on r&d and how much is spent on advertising. The numbers are nowhere as noble as you think. GSK in 2003 spent 13% of its sales on R&D.

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/12/scorecard21204.pdf

I stick with my healthy skepticism.

[teeituptom, BSN, RN]

I agree. Do you notice now that when you go to set your TIVO to record a show, the show now start at odd times like 8:59 or 9:01 instead of 9? That is the networks caving in to throw the bootleggers off and to keep you watching the ads live.....

Lets just turn the TV off!

Its over rated and getting way overpriced. and cable rates keep going up and your getting less all the time. But then maybe I dont know how to work it fully, but then I dont want to either.

Lets go golfing

[ZZTopRN, BSN, RN]

"All of the drugs are life-saving ones"

Are you saying that all drugs are life saving, or the ones that you work on are life saving?? If it's the former, that's a BIG generalization!

If there's no truth to the article then why are the drug companies advertising?? They advertise(and spend billions doing it!) because they know that we are a pill popping society that will take a pill rather than maybe make a lifestyle change! Why advertise an arthritis drug that you can only get from the doctor??If it's that good then the doctor will know about it and prescribe it. Commercials put the drugs name in the patients brain and then they want the "miracle" cure that the commercial advertises. Even if it's not appropriate for them or if another drug is just as effective and cheaper. It's all about the money.

What gets me is I thought the doctor was supposed to be diagnosing and prescribing drug treatments. Also another thing, "tell your doctor if you have liver or kidney problems." How stupid do they think we are. If my doctor didn't know I had liver or kidney problems, he wouldn't be my doctor.

[Lawnurse]

If my doctor didn't know I had liver or kidney problems, he wouldn't be my doctor.

lol :)

The law has to try to 'accomodate' all people, including people who aren't very smart. It was only a short while into my nursing career when I realized that human beings have an infinite capacity to be stupid, and no matter what you think the absolute floor of stupidity is, some human being, somewhere, will be below that. Hence a whole lot of annoying reminders like the above example!

Coincidentally, I just about to leave for my exam in Food, Drug, and Biotechnology Law (ie FDA law) which discussed exactly this sort of thing. Happy to know it actually applies to read life!