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Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

arstechnica.com

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Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#141

Post by dragonwriter »

MichaelGG wrote: post #50
bunnymancer wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disturbingly easy to get class II drugs without any proof of need.

This is a good thing in one way. People should be free to buy chemicals at will. The disturbing part is that it's a forced tax paid to doctors to get RX's written each month. Even worse, this further kills equality. A worker desiring to boost performance can easily afford top-notch medicines -- speed's only $20 a month for a starting dose at a pharmacy. But the prescription alone can be 10x that, and sometimes may be…

> People should be free to buy chemicals at will.

Any chemicals? In any arrangement?

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#142

Post by johnward »

nickff wrote: post #34
paxtonab wrote: post #23

One of the arguments I've commonly heard against a ban like this is that pharmaceutical companies need to market their products because of the cost developing new drugs. However, this has turned into a strategy of expanding the medical uses of already approved drugs and then marketing the "new uses". Tylenol is the perfect example of this. Everyone "knows" that it reduces the risk of heart attacks, because of the mar…

> "Tylenol is the perfect example of this. Everyone "knows" that it reduces the risk of heart attacks, because of the marketing campaigns. But what most people don't know is how little of an impact Tylenol actually makes." Do you mean Aspirin?[1] [1] http://www.scq.ubc.ca/should-i-take-tylenol-advil-or-aspirin...

lol

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#143

Post by phren0logy »

jessriedel wrote: post #112
phren0logy wrote: post #32

I'm a doctor, and I think this is a good idea. The information provided to both doctors and patients by drug companies is marketing material. The best source of information is peer-reviewed publications, and even those are subject to some bias. Still, that's the best source we have, and should be the primary way all of us get health care information. If you, as a patient, do not understand what the reasearch articles…

This logic applies to all consumer products. The best way to tell which car is safer is to read the original cash-test reports. Furthermore, if you make a mistake in choosing your car, there is some chance you'll die as a result. Should we ban car commercial? Even car commercials that merely report (as they usually do) summaries of the crash-test reports ("best is class safety!", "4 stars from the car insurance safet…

Cars are not only available by prescription.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#144

Post by johnward »

Archio wrote: post #39
jtuente wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a healthy, single, white male who hasn't had a threatening reason to visit a doctor, This. I probably wouldn't have health insurance right now if it weren't for the Affordable Care Act (even though my employer pays most of it). Sure that could bite me in the ass if something were to happen to me, but I'm comfortable with that risk and have family to help me out. There's no good reason for me to "outsource" my heal…

> Sure that could bite me in the ass if something were to happen to me, but I'm comfortable with that risk Has it ever occurred to you don't have much control over that risk, and that you are a human being that like every other can become sick for no reason at all? > and have family to help me out Has it ever occurred to you that many people in the United States do not have family to help them out?

That's ok because the emergency room has to treat you if you don't have insurance but don't mention single payer or those same people will flip out. Even though those costs are being passed on to the insured int he current setup.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#145

Post by johnward »

thieving_magpie wrote: post #70
ChuckMcM wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is that. It is interesting to see how television in particular seems to have lost a lot of advertising diversity, excluding advertising for other shows on the same network, these days just drugs, cars, lawyers, and pay-to-play games, with the occasional movie trailer for good measure. Bad news for television networks.

Yeah - to the point that I can't stand it. I can't even watch football anymore. I generally end up muting the commercials and forgetting to check back when they're over.

Monday night football is like USAA and IBM Watson commercials over and over. With erectile disfunction thrown in.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#146

Post by chjj »

nsxwolf wrote: post #93

These ads are one of the main reasons I became a cord cutter. I'm very happy they have not yet followed me onto any of the streaming services I use. They are the creepiest thing ever on television. The actors sit around dinner tables with family members speaking unnatural, FDA manipulated dialog ("Oh, I'm doing great, I've been taking Pradaxa for my afib, not caused by a heart valve problem!") Then you get the unendi…

I wrote a screenplay for a Prozac commercial.

    INT. BEDROOM - NIGHT
      FADE IN ON: Supremely apathetic insomnia-afflicted MAN fantasizing
      about putting a revolver to his head.

                      NARRATOR (V.O.)
                (speaking at breakneck pace)
        Side effects may include suicidal thoughts...

      CUT TO BLACK as gunshot is heard. MOONLIGHT SONATA begins to play.

      SUPER: Prozac - Because you deserve to be happy.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#147

Post by DanBC »

Cass wrote: post #123
e40 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Patient goes in and "asks their doctor" about a drug. I wonder if this really ever happens. I mean, for many of the ads, it's hard to tell even what the drug does, so going to your doctor and asking for that med would amount to a random question.

Oh hell yes. The main one peaople ask me about right now is Marcumar/Warfarin, a drug many patients with atrial fibrillation have to take for the entire rest of their life, despite the fact that it has awful side effects and requires them to go to their doctor every two to four week to have a blood test done. Many patients are quite excited to hear that there's now new alternative drugs (NOAKs) that let you skip the…

> and requires them to go to their doctor every two to four week to have a blood test done.

Can't that be done digitally now?

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/14030069.Warfarin_scre...

https://twitter.com/CDDFTNHS/status/666205891629359104

https://twitter.com/NHSIQ/status/666240577877499905

EDIT: Also http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta249

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#148

Post by dctoedt »

joshuaheard wrote: post #10

I've never understood the logic behind prescription drug ads. The first rule of sales is to pitch the decision maker. You can't buy prescription drugs without a doctor's authorization, so basically the ads are asking people to go beg their doctors for medicine they may, or may not, need. The doctor, in turn, may give in to the patient's emotional pleas, since they are, in effect, in a customer service business. This…

> The first rule of sales is to pitch the decision maker.

Or to pitch the influencers --- for example, grocery stores' putting sugary cereals on lower shelves, where kiddies can see them and ask mom and dad to buy them.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#149

Post by mindcrime »

abannin wrote: post #126
mindcrime wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People with addictions don't have preferences in the sense you mean. The nature of addiction is that it subverts and overrides the (delicate) mechanisms of rational choice. It's an interesting point to discuss. Presumably they did (in most scenarios) have a choice when beginning the drug, but then once addicted, you have a good point. So should we argue that that initial choice was made freely, and that we have no ri…

I have yet to meet the person who, when asked for the reason for their decision, replies "it was irrational". The truth is that people take the action they feel is the most rational, and there are many factors influencing that conclusion. It's also important to consider that addiction is far more complicated than a dependance on a biochemical reactions to a stimulus. There are strong psychological issues at play as w…

I think I agree with you, but I'm willing to consider that there might be a bit more nuance to the issue. Like I said, I'd have to think about it more to be sure (that is speaking only in regards to somebody who already has an addiction).

But overall, I am still for complete legalization of all drugs, as I still hold that a consenting adult has the right to put any substance in his/her body that he/she chooses.

I would also oppose a law restricting the advertising of prescription drugs. But, then again, in my world, the distinction between "prescription" or not would be a lot fuzzier anyway. It might even disappear altogether.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#150

Post by mizchief2 »

joshuaheard wrote: post #10

I've never understood the logic behind prescription drug ads. The first rule of sales is to pitch the decision maker. You can't buy prescription drugs without a doctor's authorization, so basically the ads are asking people to go beg their doctors for medicine they may, or may not, need. The doctor, in turn, may give in to the patient's emotional pleas, since they are, in effect, in a customer service business. This…

It worked great for kids cartoons. Talk the kids into bugging their parents to buy the sugary cereal and overpriced plastic toys.
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