why is this country the paradise of big Pharm?
Value Hiker
8/27/2012 2:48:43 PM
Decision to make the United States the only industrialized nation to allow TV drug commercials, except for New Zealand... if Big Pharma will approve.
Is it really the FDA's decision ? I thought it is the Congress' decision. With billions of dollars in War Chest, big pharmaseutical companies can crash any attack from FDA.
If big pharm think people shall be bombarded with the TV Ad on perscription drugs, then why do we need the advice from Doctors? We shall be allowed to write our own perscription after watching these Ad.
The schizophrenic nature of drug company advertising was a target of my Twitter murder mystery novel, Executive Severance. One of the murder suspects is a beekeeper whose honey is known to have toxic properties:
"Then he imported New Zealand bees theorizing that they would be immune to whatever GPS malady afflicted our native bee breeds."
"That worked until we discovered that the New Zealand bees produce toxic honey. We tried to get around the problem with a label:"
"'WARNING! Ingesting this honey may cause vomiting, delirium, giddiness, stupor, coma and violent convulsions.' Sales suffered."
From Executive Severance, p. 22 http://amzn.to/zkkuFU
There are many, many things wrong with TV drug advertising, @Marvin, and you've certainly hit the nail on the head with lots of them.
I would also add three others:
First, ads for drugs where one has NO idea from the commercial what condition is going to be treated. The early Nexium commercials were like that. One suggested taking "the little purple pill" but for WHAT? Zyrtec is another with that mystery bee...
Second, because drug companies lose their patents all the time they are in a perpetual race against generics, which of course don't advertise. The net effect of this is that many commercials are "meet the new drug, same as the old drug" only the viewer doesn't find that out until actually talking to a doctor. Many anti-depressants fall into this category...change a few molecules and call it something different, e.g, Effexor > Pristiq or Celexa > Lexapro.
Third, the freebies and "if you cannot afford this medication, so-and-so may be able to help." This all sounds very consumer-friendly, but is it really a good idea for patients to have access to medications directly from drug companies? As many problems as doctor-patient relationships may have, they are still better than the do it yourself route!
Another Brilliant Column
Ted Faraone
8/8/2012 10:16:11 PM
Marvin, this is yet another brilliant column. I watch with alarm the drug commercials. The side effects scare me. And I am on a ton of prescription meds for various conditions. Fortunately for me, they are all old drugs that have been on the market forever and the side-effects of which are proven.
Back in the day I represented an advertising agency that did some of the first pharmaceutical ads on TV. I believe the pioneering ad was for Nicorette. Back then, and this was before 1997, the TV ads for drugs had to be the video equivalent of "tombstone" ads which were allowed in print. The tombstone ad was basically an epitaph on one side of the gutter and all the side effects on the other. TV managed that with a very restrained commentary and a scroll.
It did not seem to hurt sales. Perhaps we should return to that.
Sometimes drugs have side effects that are worse than the disease they're trying to solve. Sometimes the same disease the drug is intended to address is also a side-effect. Since you can get that kind of performance with any placebo, I wouldn't pay much for drugs that do that.
My prescription for depression is to read something funny. (The side-effects of laughing are almost all positive.) If that doesn't work, try helping somebody less fortunate than yourself.
PC
The blogs and comments posted on Investor Uprising do not reflect the views of Investor Uprising, PRNewswire, or its sponsors. Investor Uprising, PRNewswire, and its sponsors do not assume responsibility for any comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
|
 |
Latest Blogs
Telecom-equipment maker Ciena is a stock trader’s dream, as long as the timing is correct.
The FTC is offering a $50,000 cash prize to the person or group that can come up with a solution to those annoying robocalls.
Akamai is in the middle of four significant tech trends.
John Malone of Liberty Media will be taking over Sirius XM satellite radio when the existing CEO Mel Karmazin steps down. What's it mean?
Demand for students of the humanities exists, despite widespread aspersions on the discipline.
IU Education
Resources to help you become a better investor
Investor Uprising on Twitter
25 market-moving companies we're tracking
|
Tweet This