Prescription Drug Ads Educate Consumers

The issue that I have had with prescription drug ads is that most consumers are not educated enough to determine what they should be believing and what is hype. Many of these miracle treatments need to be balanced against what combination of medications a patient is taking. If the doctors themselves don't have time to make sure about the combinations of drugs being prescribed, how can the average consumer be expected to be responsible about these ads in their search to solve their health problems.

It is my belief that pharmaceutical companies are not adequately screening these medications in real world testing before making them available and then they pump up the advertising mill and cause more pressure to be placed on the doctors in the field. Additionally, I don't believe that these companies are really interested in anything except their bottom line.

Even though they can deduct the cost of advertising from their taxes; I believe they add that to the cost of the drugs we buy which is the difference between other countries that sell the same drugs.  They supply free samples to the doctors and then gifts like meals and trips for the doctor to endorse their products.  I have seen it, I know someone in that field that is told by her company to do this.  We pay for this also. 

      And so many companies have had to redo their misleading ads they should have a censor for them. 

    I would like these ads stopped or slowed down quite a bit. 

that same friend was told to go into the operating room to sell a product and that doctor told her to assist him.  Untrained salesperson in any operating room should be illegal.

This goes on all the time according to some articles I have read.  She quit. 

I must respectfully disagree that "direct to consumer" advertisements are a good source of education for people.  Drug companies spend millions to develop new drugs - they need to turn a profit on these drugs, and need to convince millions of people to buy them.  I speak as a mother of a chronically ill child, as a Family Practice physician who has taken care of thousands of people over the years - these ads often mislead and confuse people, and rather than promote useful discussion, these ads often mean that physicians have to "de-program" people who have been brain-washed by them!