Patients have finally become wary of drug advertising they see on TV or read in a newspaper.
MedPage Today reports a study that showed that in only 3.5 percent of encounters did a patient ask about a specific new prescription medication, down from almost 16 percent five years ago.
Recent scandals and negative publicity have placed the reputation of the pharmaceutical industry only slightly higher than that of health insurers, and patients are finally catching on.
One explanation was the shift in focus, where “the lower rate of medication inquiry may reflect recent industry strategies focused on promoting diseases and symptoms (which was not measured in this study), rather than specific medications.”
Whatever the cause, hopefully the declining effectiveness of expensive drug advertising directed to consumers will make Big Pharma cease the practice altogether.
Related posts:
- Ban direct-to-consumer advertising
- Big Pharma realizes their folly on direct to consumer advertising
- Should consumer prescription drug ads be reined in?
- Viral drug advertising
- A disease that needs advertising
- Implantable defibrillators go direct to consumer
- Are patients the real "drug pushers?"
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Kevin: Big Pharma spends $5 billion annually on DTC in North America and within a year or two will be doing the same, probably in the EU (see http://www.pizaazz.com/2008/12/29/dtc-north-america-bonanza/). I just don’t see them giving this up any time soon, except perhaps as a short term nod to the Economic Crisis and the need to cut costs.
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