Drug adverts have 'profound effect' on prescribing

I'm your pusher man . . .

Advertising drugs directly to patients has a “profound effect” on the way doctors prescribe, finds a new study in which actors posed as patients. Drug companies have poured billions of dollars into direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising in the US since the rules governing mass media advertising for prescription drugs were relaxed in 1997. Other countries - such as the UK, for example - do not permit advertising directly to patients. But critics charge that DTC advertising can lead to over-prescribing which might be potentially harmful, while proponents say that giving patients knowledge about drugs can avert the under-use of effective treatments. Now a study by US researchers shows that actors consulting doctors and mentioning a particular antidepressant drug advertised on television are much more likely to get that prescription than if they do not request any medication. “Our study supplies direct experimental evidence that DTC advertisement-driven requests, along with general requests, dramatically boost prescribing,” writes the team, led by Richard Kravitz at the University of California, Davis, US.

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