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| Direct-to-consumer advertising raises global sales of Big Pharma. This practice should be banned ! |
by Kurt C. Stange, professor of family medicine and community health at Case Western Reserve University, op-ed, The New York Times, 16 December 2013
Consumer advertising of prescription drugs is a massive public health experiment in which billions of dollars are spent each year. But this advertising is a blunt instrument where a sharp edge is needed.
Drugs have harms as well as benefits, and the harms are greater when drugs are indiscriminately prescribed. Consumer advertising, delivered to the masses as a shotgun blast, rather than as specific information to concerned patients or caregivers, results in more prescriptions and less appropriate prescribing.
The decision to start long-term medication should be motivated by observations of patients and physicians, not stimulated by rosy ads.Read more »