line,” recounts the 49-year-old military offi cer turned business consultant and motivational speaker. “At about the same time, I started seeing ads for Crestor, began reading about it, and talked to a friend who took it.” After doing a little homework, Bright asked his doctor about the choles- terol-reducing drug, wondering if it would help him.
W Bright and his physician discussed
THE MOST PRESCRIBED DRUGS IN 2009 1) Lipitor — cholesterol 2) Nexium — acid reflux 3) Plavix — blood clots, stroke 4) Advair Diskus — asthma 5) Seroquel — depression, bipolar depression
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
Has an ad ever prompted you to ask your doc- tor for a specific prescription drug? Click on Drug Ads at www
.moaa.org/discussion or mail MOAA, Attn: Editor, 201 N. Wash- ington St., Alexandria, VA 22314, to share your thoughts.
several drug options, including Lipi- tor, and ultimately decided on the one Bright fi rst had seen advertised on TV. “I’m still taking Crestor,” Bright says. “It works, and I haven’t experienced any major side eff ects.” Bright thinks the Crestor ads helped him pursue treatment for his borderline high cholesterol, though he admits not all consumers con- duct adequate research on drugs or have doctors who willingly discuss other options. “Many times I think these ads aff ect seniors,” Bright says. “The side eff ects are what scare me — like stroke, heart attack, and death. Without understanding side eff ects, being taken in by drug advertising can be dangerous.”
DRUG CLASSES WITH HIGH- EST DTC SPENDING IN 2008* 1) Erectile dysfunction drugs 2) Bone resorption inhibitors (prevent osteoporosis) 3) Nonbarbituate sleep aids 4) Autoimmune treatments 5) Statins (lower cholesterol) *COURTESY OF THE CBO
64 MILITARY OFFICER APRIL 2011
Money trail The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) has been study- ing direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising for years and says adver- tising is at least in part to blame for soaring medical costs. Pharmaceutical companies spend almost $5 billion a year on DTC advertising, and it works. The NCSL reports from 1999 to 2000, prescriptions for the 50 most heavily advertised medications went up by almost 25 percent; prescriptions for all other drugs combined went up by just more than 4 percent.
Shelly Burgess, spokesperson for
the FDA, says DTC advertising always has been permitted in the U.S., but it wasn’t until the late 1990s that drug companies started looking to advertise on television. That’s what led the FDA to release TV broadcast guidelines in 1999 to ensure pharmaceutical com- panies would meet requirements for advising consumers on both the ben- efi ts and risks of their drugs. Results have been mixed. Accord- ing to FDA surveys, physicians say DTC advertising has made their pa- tients more aware of treatments and more likely to participate in health care decisions, but doctors also feel overall that ads typically do not convey enough information about potential drug side eff ects. “Much of our compliance and en-
forcement activity is spent trying to ensure that companies don’t lowball risks in the ad and provide infl ated expectations of benefi t,” says Dr. Janet Woodcock, deputy FDA com- missioner for operations. However, consumer surveys conducted by the FDA show 58 percent of consumers believe ads make drugs seem better than they really are. Nevertheless, patients are asking for the drugs they see on TV — not for the generic versions that might serve them just as well and save them and their prescription drug plans money.
HEN LT. COL. BRUCE BRIGHT, USMC-RET., retired from his 28-year Marine Corps career three years ago, he began seeing a civilian physician, who gave him a complete physical. “He said my cholesterol was border-
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