FROM THE CONSUMERS UNION PRESCRIPTION FOR CHANGE WEBSITE:
Tell the FDA what you think about drug ads.
Goal: 50,000 signatures!
Fed up with TV ads that sell you the “good news” about prescription drugs but gloss over the shortcomings? Do these drugs actually work? And how common are those side effects?
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon decide whether these TV ads should include a toll-free number and web address where you can report side effects or other problems. The drug companies don't like this idea. They don’t want their ads used to help identify potential problems with their products.
But if we have to watch these endless ads, we should at least be able to easily report to the FDA how these medicines really work! Add your name to the FDA petition.
https://secure.consumersunion.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=Rx_Drug_Ads_Petition
Great website. Thanks for posting it.
Jan
hi joi have not looked at th link yet but this looks a great idea..
i feell docs can not be trusted to put a persons side effects next to the med
i would allso like to see the docs being monitored whith there crappy
attitude to ra.. and treatments dished out..
Boney
Hi Boney,
Unlike the UK and actually most countries except for New Zealand, the US allows direct to consumer advertising for prescription drugs on tv. We're bombarded with 'em. Back to back drug commercials, seemingly nonstop. They are pretty to watch though, nice looking folks riding bikes, running on the beach, working in glorious gardens, hiking, dancing, couples in the mood (viagra ads).
These ads are very effective and perhaps may contribute to the fact that Americans spend more on medicines than do all the people of Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina combined.
One problem is that newly released drugs are heavily marketed as soon as they come out. Clinical trials of these drugs however have only been tested on a small group of people compared to the number of people that they are being pitched to. If the phone number to report side effects was part of these tv ads, a more timely review of problems and removal from market if warranted, would be possible. It's simply about patient safety.
Now, banning drug tv ads, is another matter.
Hi,
I must be watching some totally different ads.
The ads that I watch tell maybe one or two supposedly good things about the drug, followed by seemingly endless SE's beginning with mild, working into moderate and concluding with severe, i.e. "and death." Matter of fact, on a certain national comedy show that I watch on Saturdays, they've done a couple of hilarious take-offs on these ads.
Every time I watch one of these commercials, I bust out laughing when they start in with the never ending list of horrible stuff that can happen if one takes their product.
I'll check out the site you posted. Thanks.
K.
Katalina,
You're right. After scenes of happy, healthy folks frolicking about, at the end of the commercial the pleasant voice rapidly fires off a list of possible side effects, which do make you laugh considering the shocking contrast of the ad's happy scenes with such disturbing side effects. Makes you wonder who would take these drugs if they had such risks, but lots of people do, making the practice of direct to consumer advertising very lucrative. Every dollar spent on marketing in 2000 resulted in worth of sales.
Drug companies spend more on marketing than on research and development, spending 24% on advertising and 10% on R and D. If you're interested in learning about why direct to consumer advertising is a bad deal, see the following site:
The following is direct quote from the June 2008 issue of Consumer Reports:
Safer
medications. While Consumers Union lobbies in this country for better
disclosure of drug-trial results and a toll-free number on ever TV drug
ad, Consumers International is lobbying in Europe, where
direct-to-consumer drug ads are banned, to keep them off the air. (Only
the U.S. and New Zealand allow prescription drugs to be peddled to
consumers.) CI's head of campaigns, Justin MacMullan, noted this year
that "prescription drugs are not washing powders and should not be sold
as such."
In Central America, consumer groups are fighting an
equally tough battle. A new study of medications in five countries in
the region found critical information-active ingredients, side effects,
and indications and contraindications for use - missing from the labels.
Pakistan's
key consumer advocacy group has teamed with physicians to expose
irresponsible marketing with offers of cars, refrigerators, and even
domestic animals.
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