Say Goodbye to Those Absurd Side-Effects Readouts in Drug Commercials. The FDA finalized a rule that will require a drug’s side effects to be "presented in a clear, conspicuous, and neutral manner.”
Say Goodbye to Those Absurd Side-Effects Readouts in Drug Commercials. The FDA finalized a rule that will require a drug’s side effects to be "presented in a clear, conspicuous, and neutral manner.”
gizmodo.com
Say Goodbye to Those Absurd Side-Effects Readouts in Drug Commercials
How about no drug adverts? Is that really so hard? I don't know a single person who has ever asked their doctor about something they saw on TV.
They're only legal in two countries- the U.S. and New Zealand.
if you didn't say NZ I literally would never have guessed. That's an actual shock.
Canada has drug ads, but with special rules. You can either mention the drug name or its indication, but not both.
So you'll get ads that say stuff like "Ozempic - ask your doctor if it's right for you" with people happily eating in a coffeeshop. But they won't tell you what Ozempic is supposed to do.
Akshully according to the article it's only legal in 2 MAJOR countries. I'm curious to know which minor countries it's legal in.
Had a friend with a parent that was a doctor. Apparently she could tell which commercials were getting pushed more based on what patients kept asking for.
Doc, I think I have moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis, menopause, and erectile dysfunction.
I know a few doctors, and they all hate drug commercials (as well as webMD) because patients come in with their self-diagnosis trying to order drugs like it’s a friggin restaurant. One of them told me that even when she clearly informs them that’s not how this works, they regularly get pissed off as she continues to tell them no and doesn’t budge. She also said she knows other less stubborn or principled doctors that give into the pressure, which is exactly how big pharmaceutical companies like it.
I think you're probably right here, but just want to say that I've personally I've worked in multiple companies where they've spent millions on different things with no ROI. So it definitely happens. Sometimes leaders just like an idea and want to spend money on it.
While I agree in principle, there are people with fibromyalgia who wouldn’t know medications exist for it otherwise, because their doctors barely understand fibromyalgia.
"hmmm have you considered that chronic pain isn't real and you're lying? Don't worry, I'm still going to bill your insurance for the full price of an office visit."
This is true for a lot of other cases too. People live with chronic conditions because they either don't know that it's an issue and there's treatment, or they sought treatment and there wasn't any help at the time, and since then there have been new drugs release
Then the drive should be to fix that problem rather than the symptom.
I wonder if they should only allow generalized, industry-wide ads that don’t focus on a specific drug, or even company.
You know, like we see ads for broad categories of food, like cheese, beef, and milk, for some reason.
“Did you know that new treatments are available for things like fibromyalgia, depression, and heart disease? Talk to your doctor today!”
What TV channels are you watching?
Actually about 50% of the time your doctor will give it to you just by you asking. That's why they do this. You're not a person that advertising works on, but remember that the country is filled with monkeys.
Maybe not medications, but people generally write off benign symptoms quickly, and a series of benign symptoms can often be an indication of something more serious.
Then that person sees a commercial and it lists all the symptoms they've been having at once and it makes them go "Hey wait a minute, all those symptoms sound familiar, maybe I should make an appointment"
Iirc there was a study a few years ago that determined that medication commercials can increase the rate people see doctors.
Then you have to spend years trying to convince your doctor that it's not because you're overweight or just imagining it.
Awareness is probably what they're after, and it's probably worth billions to the pharmaceutical industry and the congressmen they own.
All of the medications that are little more than QoL things. Frequent urinarion. ED. Dry mouth.
Things you wouldn’t normally ask a doctor about being a condition.
I actually did with Ubrelvy for migraines, but it was something my doctor was about to give me samples of anyway.
But where else can I hear that awful “nothing is everything” song?!
That's not very capitalist of you! MURICA! /s