Direct to Consumer Pharmaceutical ads are all around us. We often times see them on tv and instinctively roll our eyes at them. “Potential side effects include nausea, internal bleeding, broken bones, drowsiness, head trauma, intense vomiting, insomnia, bloodshot eyes, and occasionally death. Try ___ today!” Seriously? Okay, that was an exaggeration but sometimes you do a double take when you hear how ridiculous those ads can be. As we learned in class, the U.S. and New Zealand are two of the only countries that allow DTC commercials for drugs. The ads we see on TV can be dangerous, so should the U.S. adopt a similar ban?
The FDA themselves advise the public to be careful about the ads we see on tv, as seen in this letter below. The FDA monitors and oversees the prescription drug advertising we see on tv. According to their website,
“Through its Division of Drug Marketing, Advertising, and Communications (DDMAC), FDA ensures that all prescription drug promotion provided by drug firms is truthful, balanced, and accurately communicated.”
That’s great and all, but how often do we also see recall commercials for drugs that were aired on tv? Perhaps not that often, but we’re led to believe that people who took some of those drugs were seriously injured or even died. Is it really worth the risk when we could so easily ban them? Of course there are potential benefits to having these ads on TV. According to the FDA, proponents of the ads say they can “result in better health, advance public health, and remind people to refill their prescriptions.” O boy. However, those against the ads argue “ads may contain false or misleading information, they don’t provide enough information about the risks, and can threaten public health.”
If the FDA doesn’t approve of many of the drugs that we see advertised, why do they allow them to be aired at all? I think this is an issue that we overlook here in the U.S. because many people don’t even know it is an issue. So it’s best to stay educated on the pros and cons of ads. For more information, I recommend visiting the FDA’s website here: http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm107170.htm and also here: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm143562.htm
Kris Kowalk
Communicating Health, Science and the Environment 
I’m glad you chose to bring light to this issue. It is alarming that only two countries allow this type of advertising. Shouldn’t that tell you that something is wrong? I think it would be interesting to compare different aspects of health in the countries that allow DTC ads and those who ban it. How does this type of advertising have an overall effect on a countries health? Would the US and New Zealand change their laws if there was a proven link between DTC ads and poor health?
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I think one of the reasons the FDA allows for those ads to run is because they know that they can make money off of the product. If the product creates a life long illness they will end up making money off of the consumer who bought it because now they have to take other medications to sustain an “almost” normal life again.
Olivia Spencer
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