Perspective               

Study Finds Drug Ads Influence People to Buy More Drugs

A recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that nearly a third of adults have talked to a doctor about a prescription drug they saw advertised on television and that 44 percent of those who talked to their doctor got a prescription for the drug they asked about. This means that one in eight adults has gotten a specific prescription in response to seeing a television drug advertisement.

Television prescription drug advertisements have appeared in growing numbers since 1997, when new Food and Drug Administration rules gave the go ahead for such direct-to-consumer advertising. Since 1994 direct-to-consumer ad spending has grown from $266 million to $2.5 billion in 2000, largely stemming from growth in television advertising.

Direct-to-consumer advertising has been the focus of much debate in recent years. Those in favor of direct-to-consumer advertising say that the ads inform consumers about important, treatable health conditions and encourage doctor-patient communication. Critics say that direct-to-consumer advertising adds to the rising cost of prescription drugs and leads people to ask for unnecessary or inappropriate drugs.

A separate study by the National Institute for Health Care Management found that the 50 most-advertised prescription drugs accounted for almost half of the $20.8 billion increase in drug spending last year. The rest of the spending increase came from 9,850 prescription drugs that were not advertised or were advertised very little.

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