This week, the New York Times ran an article discussing
the American Medical Association’s (AMA) decision to study drug advertising and
its effects on consumers. In the
article, I was quoted noting that, “Somewhere between 24 and 30 million people
have gone to their doctor to talk about a health problem they had never
discussed before after seeing a prescription drug ad."
More importantly, many of these patients are going to
their doctors to discuss critical health issues such as diabetes, high blood
pressure, or high cholesterol. In each
one of these areas, lack of early medical intervention can lead to severe health
problems or even death. A recent report
by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, for example, pointed
out that a dismal two-thirds of the nations’ 18 million diabetics don’t have
their blood sugar under control, putting them at high risk for the disease’s
nastiest complications, including blindness, kidney failure, amputation of
limbs, or heart disease.
These facts need to be fully understood in assessing the
importance of direct to consumer prescription drug advertising. Nevertheless, critics continue to undervalue
the positive benefits of DTC ads. As
this issue continues to take center stage, we therefore strongly support
careful and balanced analyses of groups like the AMA of this critical area of
advertising. We all need to find the
right answers as to how to best serve the consumer.
From the advertising industry perspective, we must
continually emphasize the same point - new prescription drugs have the
potential to provide major health enhancing benefits. Already, DTC prescription drug advertising is
the most regulated sector of advertising, and we continue to work to strengthen
these protections even further. Hopefully, these efforts will continue to allow the marketing industry
to do what it does best - communicate important messages that heighten consumer
awareness through advertising.
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