When Business and Practice Collide : Direct - to - Consumer Advertising

It is nearly impossible today to turn on the television or read a magazine without seeing an advertisement for a prescription medication. CBS HealthWatch reported in 1998 that 66% of consumers in the United States had seen a particular product advertised in print, while 61% had seen one promoted on television.1 Spending on direct-toconsumer advertisements increased 212% between 1995 and 1996, reaching $595 million.2 By 1999 this figure soared to $1.3 billion.3 In response to this increase in advertising, between 1993 and 1998, 22% of the associated increase in retail sales for prescription drugs was for the 10 most heavily promoted medications.3 The most commonly advertised products are for treatment of chronic conditions including allergy, asthma, osteoporosis, arthritis, hypercholesterolemia, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes. With this significant upsurge in marketing prescription medications directly to consumers, questions arise regarding its effect on health care. This article will examine direct-to-consumer (D-T-C) advertising from the perspective of the pharmaceutical industry, the consumer, the practitioner, and finally the business of health care.