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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

#171

Post by jacquesm »

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…

> In my clinic, I do not accept visits or items from drug reps (including glossy marketing materials, pens, etc); the only thing they can leave me is a copy of a peer-reviewed article.

That's absolutely super good and I wished that more (all?) doctors followed your example.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#172

Post by Turbo_hedgehog »

hammock wrote: post #165
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…

The irony of wanting to ban Rx drug ads because they are creepy, is that it was regulations that made them creepy to begin with. (You seem aware of this already) There is an argument to be made for consumer advertising for a drug like Viagra. Without awareness that an effective treatment exists, patients with ED or another embarrassing condition are not likely to bring it up with their doctor on their own, thus resul…

What if you allow basically the same ad but disallow mention of any brand names - only the generic name or condition to be treated?

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#173

Post by mjklin »

gist wrote: post #76
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…

"I've never understood the logic behind prescription drug ads. The first rule of sales is to pitch the decision maker." Plenty of logic is there. Part of the purpose is to make the Doctor pay attention to the advertising that they see in a journal. [1] How? Patient goes in and "asks their doctor" about a drug. Then another patient. And another. So now when the doctor sees an ad (or the detail man comes in) the doctor…

Indeed, it is based on a well known psychological phenomenon:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availability_heuristic

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#174

Post by cbhl »

detaro wrote: post #130
Cass wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Slight OT: How much more expensive does the stuff have to be that biweekly doctor visits for blood tests are cheaper? (Not even getting into the topics of "how much is not having to do that every 2 weeks worth" and "can't the patient pay the difference if they want to?")

Judging from their comments; that doctor lives in Germany, which seems to have a national health care system (in addition to private insurance).

(In the US, a 15-minute doctor's visit could easily cost an end-patient $150-$200 out of pocket if their insurance doesn't cover it or has a high deductible; doing a blood draw every two weeks can get very expensive at that rate.)

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#175

Post by hackbinary »

I live in the UK, and I love that there are no Rx TV commercials here. Then again, I live in Scotland, and I get my prescriptions for free. The NHS is an incredible service, and it surprises me that most Americans don't want publicly funded healthcare. Even those darn Canadian guys north of your boarder have a good public healthcare system.

BTW, the UK economy spends almost half in, relative terms, at 9.6% of the UK GDP vs the Americans spend of 17.9% of GDP, on healthcare. In real terms (2012 dollars), the UK spends $3480 per person vs the US spending $8362 per person. And we have a health care system free at the point of delivery.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#176

Post by wooter »

Alex3917 wrote: post #122
wooter wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much data there is against the First Amendment. I'm not saying the ads aren't a problem, I'm saying censorship isn't the solution.

My comment was descriptive, not normative.

Your comment, in context, seemed to imply that customers making bad decisions due to imperfect (mis)information could be corrected by censorship.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#177

Post by bcoates »

jessriedel wrote: post #167
jerf wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars are already heavily regulated. The minimum-legal car may not be comfortable and may not be pretty, but it'll be pretty darned safe and be decently efficient (considering the amount of material it is hauling around to be that safe). You can't advertise a death trap because it's already illegal to sell one. It's a poor comparison to the medical world where you can not help but do dangerous things to solve even mor…

You are vastly more likely to die in a car crash than from a non-abused prescription drug. Furthermore, small cars are significantly more deadly than large ones and trucks. Car companies obscure this by comparing cars to ones "in their class", thereby misleading the consumer into thinking that their high-scoring small car is about as safe as it gets. (I am putting aside opiate abuse, since illegal use is a different…

Trucks? Last I researched this the Ford F150 and Dodge Ram -- popular, mainstream pickup trucks -- were by a large margin statistically among the least safe vehicles allowed on roads in America, compared across everything, not just in-class.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#178

Post by lando2319 »

There is one I see advertised regularly, one of the side effects is "suicidal thoughts, or actions", can you believe that, OR ACTIONS. It's one thing when a pill causes my body to fail and I die, it's quite another to have a pill put me in a state of mind where I kill myself.

Also I have seen recently the words, "these are not all the side effects, see our website for a complete list".

It's unbelievable what it has come to.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#179

Post by johncolanduoni »

Turbo_hedgehog wrote: post #172
hammock wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony of wanting to ban Rx drug ads because they are creepy, is that it was regulations that made them creepy to begin with. (You seem aware of this already) There is an argument to be made for consumer advertising for a drug like Viagra. Without awareness that an effective treatment exists, patients with ED or another embarrassing condition are not likely to bring it up with their doctor on their own, thus resul…

What if you allow basically the same ad but disallow mention of any brand names - only the generic name or condition to be treated?

Then we have a tragedy of the commons, where Pfizer and Lilly (the makers of Viagra and Cialis respectively) will wait for the other to create generic ED ads that they will both benefit from.

Re: Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements

#180

Post by [deleted] »

Turbo_hedgehog wrote: post #172
hammock wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony of wanting to ban Rx drug ads because they are creepy, is that it was regulations that made them creepy to begin with. (You seem aware of this already) There is an argument to be made for consumer advertising for a drug like Viagra. Without awareness that an effective treatment exists, patients with ED or another embarrassing condition are not likely to bring it up with their doctor on their own, thus resul…

What if you allow basically the same ad but disallow mention of any brand names - only the generic name or condition to be treated?

[deleted]
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