Senators Propose Ban on Drug Advertising to Consumers

[dockside]

I've not done any kind of research on this, but my assumption is that drug companies purchase ads because they believe doing so increases their long-term revenues and profits. I'm not sure why I should think that decreasing advertising opportunities would result in lower prices. Seems to give a lot of power to whatever companies make the best deals with the prescribing doctors behind the scenes.

I read a few years ago that big pharma spends more on tv commercials than on research. Evidently they think spending money that way will greatly increase their incomes/profits.

 

[NOLA Dude]

I read a few years ago that big pharma spends more on tv commercials than on research. Evidently they think spending money that way will greatly increase their incomes/profits.

No it's actually about keeping the news networks from reporting anything negative about big pharma because they depend so heavily on that advertising revenue.

 

[BirdinHand]

No it's actually about keeping the news networks from reporting anything negative about big pharma because they depend so heavily on that advertising revenue

1/5th of Fox’s total ad revenue comes from pharmaceutical advertisements.

Retail, automotive and financial services are all higher. And during election seasons - political ads are the #1.

So, this is just conjecture.

There doesn’t need to be pharmaceutical direct to consumer advertising simply for the reason that the average consumer isn’t a doctor and pharmaceutical products should stand on their merit - based on what value they bring to a patient - not on what is most heavily advertised.

If drug A is the best drug to treat a patient, then drug A should be what is prescribed to the patient. Not what drug has been most heavily advertised.

Pharmaceuticals shouldn’t be treated like consumer products. And…as far as I’m concerned…the window of time that a drug can stay as a “brand” name pharmaceutical patents should be much more concrete.

I’m tired of these companies coming up with XYZ reasons to extend the patent on drugs and therefore keeping them at higher costs.

They should get X years and that’s it. No application for another patent because they found that taking drug Z keeps your nose hairs from growing - and therefore are able to extend the patent another Y years and prevent it from entering the genetic market.

This is healthcare, not car sales.