Do drug ads help patients or harm them? Critics of drug ads assert that the ads foster artificial demand for brand-name drugs, drive up the cost of health care, potentially expose people to side effects from unproven drugs, and complicate the doctor-patient relationship.
If you are an American adult who has read a magazine or watched television in the past decade, chances are you have seen many direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertisements. Commonly these ads identify a disease or health problem and then suggest that you ask your doctor whether the medication may help you.
The pharmaceutical industry contends that this kind of advertising is a valuable service that alerts consumers to new drugs and stimulates helpful conversations with their doctors. But there are many critics and direct-to-consumer advertising remains controversial. The issue has been studied in depth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), by independent researchers, and by the pharmaceutical industry to establish whether, on balance, DTC advertising helps patients or harms them.
The balance shifts somewhat depending on which drug study you read, but important insights have emerged that can guide you in interpreting drug advertisements. If you understand their limitations, the drug ads could benefit you and lead to a more productive relationship between you and your doctor.
Surveys and studies show that DTC ads often do lead to discussions between patients and their doctors. Recently, the FDA surveyed 250 general practitioners and 250 specialists pulled at random from the American Medical Association’s membership database. Most of the physicians said that patients asked them about advertised prescription drugs either often (62%) or all the time (23%). Most patients asked about drugs by brand name, which reflects the ads’ focus on creating awareness of specific products.
Another study, carried out by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University, and the marketing research firm Harris Interactive Inc., found that 72% of the physicians surveyed believed that advertising had increased their patients’ understanding of possible drug treatment.
Another interesting finding: One in four doctor visits spurred by DTC advertising resulted in a new diagnosis. This suggests that advertising may help some people to recognize that they have a treatable health problem.
However, DTC advertising can also cause confusion. In the Harvard-Harris survey, many physicians said that ads often left their patients with a lopsided view of the risks and benefits of medications, with a bias toward potential benefits. The FDA survey, too, concluded that people tended to view drugs they learned about through these ads as more effective than they actually were.
Another hot-button issue is whether DTC ads fuel demand for unnecessary prescriptions. According to doctors polled in the FDA study, about three out of four patients do leave their doctor’s office with a new drug prescription. At least some of the time, patients actively pressure their doctors to prescribe the drug, according to the Harvard-Harris survey. Of the physicians who did prescribe a specific drug a patient requested, 46% said they did so because it was the most effective drug. However, 48% wrote a new prescription even though the drug was no more effective than available alternatives, just to accommodate the patient’s request. About 6% of the doctors admitted to complying with their patients’ requests for a particular drug even though other medications were more effective.
