Research About advertising Drugs -- Whats your input

[MarcusKspn]

Hi everyone,

I'm doing some research for a paper I'm working on for school.

We have to talk about either why we are for or against advertising Drugs in the media.

Let me know what your thought are.

(Personally I am against advertising in the media. I think it leads to self-diagnosis, people insisting that they are put on those Brand name drugs and bringing up health costs. Some people say they advertise to bring it to doctors attention -- all they have to do for that is send info to the Doc, puplish in Health journals, etc.)

[emily_mom]

I also agree that drug companies should not be able to advertise. I think it's a lot different than shoe ads or whatever....we're talking about people's health and lives. We have people that come in every day and say, "I have heartburn, I need the little purple pill." My doc will sometimes give them free samples of it, and if it works, great. Otherwise he will prescribe something else even if they are insistent. You don't see any of the "cheap" drugs being advertised, only the newest, "greatest", and obviously most expensive.

Drug companies act on the commercials as if this is the newest wonder drug and it's the only thing that will help them. I mean, look at all the healthy and active actors on them. If they can be healthy, why can't I?

Kristy

[jemb]

I have some conflicting thoughts about drug advertising to the public. Yes, we are a capitalist society,and it is legal and to be expected. However, for drugs that are not OTC, I question the appropriateness of mass media adverising. I really doubt that Viagra would get fewer takers by placing more of a PSA type ad which says simply that there is help available for ED, and to ask your doctor about alternatives. Other products --for GERD, weight loss, whatever -- would probably do just as well also with no brand name mentioned, except in the post-ad remark of "This ad/announcement made possible by (insert manufacturer) drug co., makers of (insert drug name). " But, fact is, they are not regulated in that manner, and if one drug company produces a name-shouting ad, the others have to compete. Personally, I think some of the ads border on unethical.

[KRVRN, BSN, RN]

I don't agree with it. The argument about "helping the pt help himself" is flawed. No one can truly make that judgment for themself without knowing what other drugs are out there, what they do, pros/cons, etc etc.

I don't like the thought that with so many drugs available over the internet and in Mexico, etc. people could be buying these drugs for themselves and experimenting with them.

[OB/GYN NP]

SJoe, it's not elitist to say that Health Care Providers know more about drugs, their side effects, and what drug might be best for a patient's needs. That's why we go to school, and that's why we continue to learn about new drugs as they come out. Drug companies only tell the patients just enough to make their product sound good. I certainly don't think that patients should not be informed about their choices, but that's what we're there for. Education is a big part of what we do, or should be doing. And no, I don't think that a patient can make a better choice about what medication he/she should take than their care providers do, just because they've seen biased commercials on drugs. They have nothing to compare the advertisements to, if they don't know that there's a great generic out there that does the same thing. Because the generic doesn't advertise. If I needed work done on my computer, I wouldn't go to the store and say, "I want this and this and this brand parts installed in my computer"...I would ask the people who know more about my computer than I do. The same thing applies to Health Care Providers. It's as simple as that. It's our job to talk to them about ALL their options, not the drug companies' jobs, however legal or legitimate it might be. And your comment about the "So-called Experts" was offensive. People who prescribe drugs are experts in their field, or they wouldn't be prescribing.

[MarcusKspn]

I don't think it is elitist to prohibit drug advertisment in the media. There are more than enought resources to find out about new drugs and what they do. The internet alone is limitless to find out about every research going on now. The big problem I have with advertising is that it is very very misleading. They promise everything imaginable and at the end of the comercial you have this little prase:

"These results are not typical, you should not expect the same results"