Drug Ads Pressuring Doctors To Prescribe Certain Medications, AMA Official Says

Many doctors feel they are under pressure to prescribe certain medications because patients, who have seen a treatment advertised on television, ask for them, Dr. Nancy Nielsen, speaker of the American Medical Association's House of Delegates, told members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging on July 22, the Hartford Courant reports. She said, "There is a danger that [televised ads] may cultivate a belief among the public that there is a pill for every ill and lead to an overmedicated society." Committee Chair Larry Craig (R-Idaho) said the hearing aimed to investigate whether direct-to-consumer ads play a role in increased consumer spending on drugs and whether the ads contain useful information. According to Nielsen, an increasing number of patients have demanded drugs they saw advertised on television since 1997, when the FDA relaxed its rules regarding prescription drug ads. Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said a 2002 survey of 500 physicians showed that 75% thought television commercials made their patients believe a drug was more effective than it actually was and that 25% felt pressured to write a prescription for a drug that a patient saw advertised on television. Dr. Arnold Relman, professor emeritus at Harvard Medical School, said most drug commercials last 30 to 60 seconds, adding, "There simply isn't time to provide any useful information about the side effects. To call this education strains the meaning of the word." Meredith Rosenthal of Harvard University noted that a recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation said each additional $1 spent on drug advertising generated $4.20 in new drug sales in 2000, accounting for 12% of the overall growth in prescription drug costs. In written testimony, She said, "Given this continuing rapid growth, the debate over the costs and benefits of [television advertising] are likely to continue." However, Marjorie Powell, assistant general counsel of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said that television drug ads "help educate patients about treatments available to them and promote a better dialogue with doctors," the Courant reports (MacDonald, Hartford Courant, 7/23).

A HealthCast of the hearing is available at kaisernetwork.org.