SURVEY: ADS INFLUENCE PRESCRIPTIONS

Prescription drug advertisements influence both consumers and doctors in the medication they choose, according to the results of a survey published by Consumer Reports.

The survey of 335 doctors found that 78 percent of primary care doctors said their patients ask for drugs they have seen advertised on television and that 67 percent of doctors said they sometimes grant their patients' requests. Additionally, the survey found that 41 percent of doctors feel patients are "poorly informed" about their medical needs.  

Consumer Reports, which makes independent product recommendations, urged consumers to "ignore drug ads" and informed consumers that the pharmaceutical industry "spends billions of dollars a year trying to get you to pester your doctor for expensive, new brand-name drugs."

From 1997 to 2005, spending on television and print ads for prescription drugs increased by about 20 percent each year, according to a recent study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). According to the GAO, the pharmaceutical industry spent $4.2 billion in 2005 on direct-to-consumer advertising.

Direct-to-consumer advertising has proven profitable to the pharmaceutical industry. A 2003 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that for every 10 percent increase in direct-to-consumer advertising, drug sales within specific therapeutic classes increased on average by 1 percent.

-From: Medicare Watch, Vol. 10, No. 2: January 23, 2007 a biweekly electronic newsletter of the Medicare Rights Center

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