We're Overdosing on Drug Ads

By Scott Culver
Communications Specialist
WEA Trust

October 2002

Turn on the television, flip through a magazine, or even scan the cars at a NASCAR race, and you’re almost certain to see a prescription drug ad.

Prescription drug advertising, which once almost exclusively targeted physicians, now is as common as advertising for soft drinks and automobiles. Since 1994, the amount drug companies spend annually on direct-to-consumer advertising has increased nine-fold – from $266 million to nearly $2.5 billion in 2000.

The ads tend to promote relatively new drugs that have no generic substitutes and center on chronic conditions such as allergies or ulcers. While the drug companies hail the educational value of these ads, their ads primarily serve a marketing purpose.

For example, the maker of the ulcer medicine Prilosec has developed Nexium, a drug that is essentially identical to Prilosec. While Prilosec is about to lose patent protection, clearing the way for less expensive generic equivalents and possible over-the-counter (OTC) versions, Nexium will have no generic equivalent for several years. The manufacturer is heavily promoting Nexium, hoping to prevent patient migration to the generic or OTC version of Prilosec when they are available.

Another example is of two commonly advertised arthritis medications, Vioxx and Celebrex. Introduced in 1999, these medicines were promoted as pain relievers that are easier on your stomach than older, less expensive medicines such as naproxen or ibuprofen. However, while only a small segment of the population is at risk for gastrointestinal side effects, more than half the arthritis prescriptions written are for Celebrex or Vioxx.

Dr. Kate Templeton, a medical advisor to the Trust, offers these tips on what to consider when you see prescription drug advertising:

• Understand that you are not seeing all the alternatives in the ad; talk to your health care provider about what best suits your needs.
  
  
• Be careful of self-diagnosis. Just because you think you have a medical condition does not mean you do.
  
  
• If your current prescription is managing your condition well, wait until your next scheduled appointment to talk with your doctor about a drug you saw advertised.