AMA calling for limits on drug advertising
The AMA is calling for limits on drug advertising until a given drug has been on the market for a specified amount of time. Ostensibly, this is so that safety and efficacy can be established.
That's a funny thing because I thought establishing safety and efficacy was the purpose behind clinical trials. While it's true that some drugs like Vioxx get recalled, these drugs are in the tiny minority. (And in the case of Vioxx, which was on the market for years before being pulled, a moratorium would have been pointless):
The real reason for the AMA calling for a temporary comes later:
Physicians have complained about patients who demand inappropriate drugs after being persuaded by a drug company's advertisement. Drug makers have said the ads educate the public and only advise patients to ask their doctors.
Now this phenomenon is certainly a problem. On the one hand, drug advertising does serve a genuinely helpful cause in some cases. In the case of insomnia and erectile dysfunction, advertising has allowed many people to lead happier and healthier lives by showing that patients need not suffer in silence.
I don't necessarily disagree with the AMA's position, but their given reasons for the moratorium (safety and efficacy) are smoke in mirrors. The real reason is that they want doctors to have a chance to independently test new drug therapies without being pressured by patients to prescribe popular lifestyle drug du jour.
The other problem is administration:
"The length of time this requires will vary from medicine to medicine, and companies will likely meet this goal in different ways," said Dr. Paul Antony of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
Without a standard (like the originally-proposed one year), what drugs become approved for marketing when will be an administration nightmare subject to the whims of the FDA as lobbied by special interest groups (Big Pharma). If something like this is going to be done, it needs to be done uniformly so it's fair to all parties involved.
[tags]Medicine, pharmacy, Big Pharma, advertising, marketing[/tags]
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