Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog: Hype

Friday, October 22, 2004

Hype

As a consumer, you have to see through the hype that the drug companies put out. Medrants points to an excellent article explaining why drug prices are so high - and the role of pharmaceutical hype. One section deals with the Nexium story:

Nexium has become a symbol of everything that is wrong with the pharmaceutical industry. The big drug companies justify the high prices they chargeand the extraordinary profits they enjoyby arguing that the search for innovative, life-saving medicines is risky and expensive. But Nexium is little more than a repackaged version of an old medicine. And the hundred and twenty dollars a month that AstraZeneca charges isnt to recoup the costs of risky research and development; the costs were for a series of clinical trials that told us nothing we needed to know, and a half-billion-dollar marketing campaign selling the solution to a problem wed already solved. The Prilosec pattern, repeated across the pharmaceutical industry, goes a long way to explain why the nations prescription drug bill is rising an estimated 17 % a year even as general inflation is quiescent, the Wall Street Journal concluded . . .

Another example is Singulair for allergic rhinitis - as has been discussed before:

It is certainly not mentioned in the commercial that Singulair is only good as a 2nd or 3rd line therapy for seasonal allergies. Advertisements like this only do a disservice to both patients and physicians - both of whom takes a backseat to profits on the drug companies' list of priorities.

This recent meta-analysis says the same thing:

Leukotriene receptor antagonists are modestly better than placebo, as effective as antihistamines, but less effective than nasal corticosteroids in improving symptoms and quality of life in patients with seasonal allergic rhinitis.

Bottom-line: don't always believe the hype you see on TV and have a critical eye towards the evidence.

Posted by Kevin | link | Comments (2) |

Comments:

I can see what you're saying. But here's something to think about.

My disease is very rare. Drugs don't work on me the way they are intended, if at all. Many fellow mastocytosis patients experience the same difficulties. My own GP looks at me like I have two heads when I tell him some of the symptoms I get when he tries things out to help me. 98% of the time he says "i've never heard of that from anyone or anywhere else". Well, welcome to the world of rare disorders.

I take Nexium and consider it a lifesaver because none of the other meds of that class work. I take Singulair mostly to help with the fatigue. Those of us with mastocytosis consider both these drugs to be crucial for quality of life. Now, they aren't marketed to those with rare disorders because there's no money in that. But I'm glad all the same that they exist.

Leukotrines...sigh...I am so not a doctor. LOL Wish I was so I could understand how mast cells really work or at least get in on the research about mast cells.

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