Why do we allow prescription drugs to be advertised and marketed?

[Botany]

I have faith Drs., nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, and mental health professionals to diagnose
any problems and prescribe the correct medications. Hawking them on TV is just wrong and I
think we are the only country in the world that allows this crap.

BTW the commercials are really over the top too. I never realized that having metastatic breast
cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis, stage 4 lung cancer,
heart problems, type 1 diabetes, and dementia was such a good time because the ads sure make
them look like a party.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

1. I'm still trying to figure out the symbolism of two bathtubs on a shore ...

... I don't know what it means but I'm sure I'm supposed to like it.

Disclaimer: reading any of my posts may cause confusion, anger, headache, nausea, or death.

[malaise]

23. Thread winner

[democratisphere]

32. You forgot the side effects of two bathtub celibacy.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. I forget exactly when those ads started being allowed,

but they seem to have taken over a lot of broadcast TV.

I don't happen to own a TV (I watch plenty of shows via the internet) and so the rare times I actually see commercial television, I'm often shocked by the drug advertising. As well as advertising in general. Among the reasons I do well on a somewhat limited income is that I don't see commercials all day long telling me I must buy this or that. Makes a huge difference in my sense of well being.

[Merlot]

39. I was mysteriously "gifted" with a subscription to Good Housekeeping Magazine

Browsing through it (or searching in vain for something I would find intersting), I'd say over 50% of the ads are for prescriptions....and I hope they paid that nice lady in the adult diapers really well.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

42. Yes. So many drug ads in magazines.

It's weird. And definitely gives a reader or watcher a very skewed impression of the world.

[Fred Sanders]

3. Because of the huge ad buys on every national news show day after day.

It may not be good for America but it sure is good for CBS!....Moonves.

[peekaloo]

14. Bulls eye!

Sweet Jebus the rest of the time they're hawking insurance/burial plans.

I'm not saying those are necessarily bad things but when a person is struggling financially day to day it's a depressing reminder.

[PatSeg]

33. And of course, the occasional

class action lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company that recently pushed a new and very expensive drug.

[peekaloo]

36. Oh yeah, how did I forget that?

[PatSeg]

38. It is a real racket

The unbridled greed is breathtaking.

[Totally Tunsie]

40. Moonves has his own headaches now, for which I'm sure

GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, or Merck will have a pill to overcome. If he suffers death, he'll be able to sue them...how does that work anyway?

[meadowlark5]

4. Well, it's only a party if you take those advertised drugs, don't ya know

I just saw one for Ozempic or something. Put to Pilot's song "Magic" "oh, oh, oh, Ozempic" I remember the stupid jingle but have no idea what it's supposed to treat. Diabetes? Psoriasis, hemorrhoids?

[lastlib]

22. It does wonders for that nasty lump in your wallet......... eom

one minor side effect--death.........

[meadowlark5]

25. I know! Those side effects

And the side effect of death is always delivered in such a soft, and lovely voice

[lastlib]

28. well, it IS such a minor detail....... to THEM.......

eom

[Sherman A1]

5. To pay for

The Breathless 24/7 Cable News Infotainment Channels that occasionally brush up against journalism, but are really designed to keep your eyes on the screen between commercials for drugs we never new we needed.

[manor321]

6. They should be banned.

These advertising costs are something like 40% - 50% of the total cost of the drugs. Poor people have to pay for these damned advertisements!

[Turbineguy]

7. So we can say....

"I have that!" and run to our Doctors. We live in a hypochondriac's dreamworld.

[Botany]

12. Or have somebody go and bug their Dr. and tell them that they need "Zimmed*" ....

... and the Dr. is busy so he writes out a script for "Zimmed" to get them
out of the office


* may cause confusion, anger, headache, nausea, or death. stolen from poster upthread

[Turbineguy]

17. My Mother

was at death's door for the last 61 years of her life.

[malaise]

24. If you still want those drugs after you hear the side effects

maybe Darwin is calling

[Wounded Bear]

8. They didn't when I grew up...

Of course, that was before the Medical Industry (it's not a "system," that would imply some organization and regulation) took over the country.

I don't believe it happens in most developed countries, BTW.

[PatSeg]

35. Yes

It was illegal to advertise drugs, doctors, hospitals, medical groups, etc. It still is throughout the world, except for the U.S.

[RainCaster]

9. The long list of side effects can be far worse than the original

Listen to that long list of bad stuff, I think the cancer might be the better choice.

[mucifer]

10. It used to be illegal then politicians got payed off nt

[KCDebbie]

20. I think it was the early 90s when FDA regs forbidding

Advertising was rolled back... I'll check Google!

[Fullduplexxx]

11. Because otherwise they go bribe docotors to push their drugs

[BumRushDaShow]

13. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[jberryhill]

15. Because banning speech requires a compelling government interest

[asiliveandbreathe]

16. If it doesn't cure ya', it'll kill ya' - some

of the ads are like mini soap operas...

[onethatcares]

18. it's just the wealthy pushing

their money back and forth. Ad execs get bonuses, their wives get xanax, the hospital execs get more money, the kids get ritalin, stock prices go up and they rinse/lather/repeat day after day after day.

Meanwhile, joe lessthanmiddleclass gets to die penniless.

But the economy is doing great.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

19. Because advertising is considered to be, at least up to a point, protected speech.

[still_one]

21. I actually don't have any issue with that. For one thing though a marketing mechinism, it is a way

to inform the patient what is out there, and since it these are prescriptions they need to inquire to with their physician their thoughts on it

Everyone of those adds make it clear it may not be appropriate for everyone, and they need to consult with their physician if it is appropriate for them.

Also you assumption that healthcare professionals will always prescribe the correct medications is not always accurate, and being an informed public consumer is important. That is why people need to get second opinions, understand the risk/rewards, read and evaluate the clinical trials, etc. so they can make an informed decision. There are a lot of newer treatments where a lot of older physician are resistant to adopt, some for good reasons, but some because they are set in their ways.

There are a lot of autoimmune conditions out there where long term steroids have and are being used to control their condition, and in many case keep them alive. The problem is that long term steroid use can have some very adverse affects. Again the risk/reward factor comes into play. Where the trend is now going because those serious side effect from long term steroid use it the use of metabolic or biologics, which are immuno-depressives, with the goal of reducing or able to stop the oral steroids, and in some cases achieve a remission. Of course these immuno-depressives have their own issues, and some folks can't take them, but it is important that a patient is a aware of what their options are, and to assume that your healthcare professional will provide those options to you with the associated risk/rewards, is NOT a good assumption. For one reason many doctors have limited time with their patients, and they don't always provide all the options, some because they themselves are not aware of them.

An informed patient is a good thing

Where the problems come in is when drug companies push their products on physicians, giving them kick backs. First of all that is illegal, but it happens more frequently than we like to admit.

[guillaumeb]

26. Nearly unregulated capitalism.

Profit is the only good.

[KCDebbie]

27. Reagan ordered the FDA to rollback regulations regarding commercial advertising

for prescription drugs in 1985!

Snippet from article: Fast-forward to the 1980s: while Ronald Reagan was telling Americans to "Just Say No," the feds cozied up to the pharmaceutical industry, and relaxed their legal restrictions. Direct-to-consumer marketing (DTCM), what you probably know as "drug commercials," was first given the seal of approval in the US in 1985.

Article quoted: https://www.thrillist.com/health/nation/why-are-prescription-drug-advertisements-legal-in-america

[pandr32]

29. They all say to "ask your doctor if __ is right for you"

We get five minutes with a doctor--tops. Half of that time he/she is reading the chart that was just picked up from the slot outside the door in order to familiarize themselves with our health (recent tests if any and their notes from last time) and diagnosis, and just who the f**k we are. Then they check what medication(s) are being used and ask how we are doing.

If we ask about a medication at that point they very well may say we can try it and see how it works.

A look around the office usually indicates lots of gifts from pharmaceutical sales reps.

It is usually up to us to determine whether a new medication is working or not. It is self-reporting.

This is not good health care. I remember a different reality not all that long ago--before health care became corporate.

[Totally Tunsie]

41. I had that very appointment last week,

but I was able to grab enough time to complain to my PCP that I feel as though I'm on too many prescriptions, am over-medicated, and having too many side effects. She listened to me for about two minutes and...…….....…..handed me a prescription for a pain reliever!!! WTF? And, NO, I didn't have it filled.

[pandr32]

47. Yup--that's how it goes

I have a bunch of unfilled prescriptions as well that I was told to "try."

[Shanti Mama]

30. I was just thinking the same thing.

Are we the only country to allow this?

[democratisphere]

31. The American Criminal Enterprise Healthcare System is allowed to do anything

they want including advertising pharmaceuticals that have worse side affects than the affliction they are supposed to cure. The expense of the overrun commercials is added to every prescription filled in America. Corporate control and price gouging corruption must be stopped if healthcare is to ever be truly affordable in America. The only people having a party are Big Pharma corporations, their corrupt executive management and their greedmongering investors.

[louis-t]

34. Part of the marketing process.

The key line in almost every ad is: "Ask your doctor if Scolaradestimasintra is right for you."

[sweetroxie]

37. They are permitted because

Big Pharma gives tons of $$$$ to politicians.... and Congress returns the favor. Because Money Talks.

[area51]

43. I don't think it's any coincidence that we have a for-profit, unregulated,

unaffordable healthcare system in this country. Iirc there's only one other country which allows drug adverts to patients. Long past time for single-payer!

[Vinca]

44. They shouldn't be allowed to run the damn things. If they took some of the loot it must cost

to air information a large chunk of the population can't understand in the first place, they might lower the cost of prescriptions people now can't afford. My particular pet peeve is the cutesy acronyms they come up with. Who doesn't want to merrily chat about their "MBC" (metastatic breast cancer)? And is bent dick disease such a problem it deserves constant, national advertising?????

[Botany]

45. They have one that shows a family having a picnic in a grass meadow above a fjord .....

.... and then a long last son and or grandson comes walking up on the gathering
and the lucky lady w/stage 4 small cell lung cancer starts to cry w/joy as the long
lost sheep returns to the family.

[Aristus]

46. The pharma companies bet millions of advertising dollars on the possibility

that patients would badger their providers so much that eventually they would give in and prescribe whatever it is the patient wants, just to shut them up.

They lost that gamble with me. I don't prescribe Chantix for smoking cessation, for example, because I've never had a patient who quit after using it, and the long list of side effects is so long and ominous that I refuse to subject my patient to them.

And when pharma comes out with a new, very expensive form of insulin for diabates patients, I'm not going to prescribe it for mine when the older, less expensive form is working quite nicely for them.

[themaguffin]

48. We didn't until about 20 years ago. At least not like now.