The year of 1997 witnessed an important regulatory change in direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of ethical drugs. For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) permitted brand-specific DTC ads on TV without a ”brief summary” of comprehensive risk information. This led to a three-fold growth of DTC advertising expenditure in four years, followed by an intensive debate about the ef...

Direct to consumer (DTC) prescription drug advertising is one of the fastest growing categories of advertising. Expenditures have increased from about $25 million in 1992 to nearly $2 billion in 1999. Given strong evidence of consumer-driven demand for advertised prescription drugs, research was conducted to assess the extent to which DTC prescription drug advertising provides consumers with th...

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of suspect goods and services has burgeoned because of the Internet. Despite very limited approval for use, DTC stem cell-marketed "treatments" have emerged for an array of conditions, creating global public health and safety risks. However, it remains unclear whether such use of stem cells is subject to drugs or biologics regulations. To address this gap, r...

This study is rooted in the research traditions of cultivation theory, construct accessibility, and availability heuristic. Based on a survey with 221 subjects, this study finds that familiarity with direct-to-consumer (DTC) print advertisements for antidepressant brands is associated with inflated perceptions of the prevalence and lifetime risk of depression. The study concludes that DTC adver...

It has been shown that drug companies will sell more drugs when they use DTC advertising, but it is also true that many consumers who are suffering--unaware there is help for their symptoms--will learn from these ads that help is available. Advertising to consumers, like advertising to professionals, will continue to be one of the best methods of providing information. Of course, healthcare pro...

References 1 Auton F. The advertising of pharmaceuticals direct to consumers: a critical review of the literature and debate. Int J Adver 2004; 23: 1–5. 2 Hone F, Benson R. DTC: European style. Pharm Exec 2004; 24: 96–102. 3 Kravitz RL, Epstein RM, Feldman MD, et al. Infl uence of patients’ requests for direct-to-consumer advertised antidepressants: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA 2005; 293...

hyosun kim’s report “trouble spots in online direct to consumer prescription drug promotion: a content analysis of fda warning letters”aims to teach marketers how to avoid breaching current food and drug administration (fda) guidelines in their online drug promotion. while kim hopes to minimise the potential for online promotion to misinform consumers and the study is carefully conducted, teach...

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing of pharmaceuticals is controversial, yet effective. Little is known relating patterns of medication use to patient responsiveness to DTC. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of data collected in national telephone survey on knowledge of and attitudes toward DTC advertisements. The survey of 1081 U.S. adults (response rate = 65%) w...

DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER(DTC)ADVERTISING OF PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS has rapidly become one of the most contentious issues facing the medical profession in the United States. Prior to the early 1980s, pharmaceutical companies promoted their prescription products exclusively to physicians, who were expected to act as “learned intermediaries” interpreting drug information for the general public. During...