Thursday, August 16, 2007

U.S. drug ad spending jumps 330 per cent in 10 years: study

From CBC News:
Spending on direct-to-consumer drug advertising in the United States rose by a staggering 330 per cent in the first decade after drug companies were freed to pitch their wares directly to the public, rising to just under $30 billion US for the year 2005, a new study shows.

The work, published Thursday's issue in the New England Journal of Medicine, revealed that new ad campaigns typically start within a year of a drug's arrival on the market — a time when it has been suggested that drug companies should not be allowed to advertise a drug.

Earlier this year, a report published by the U.S. Institute of Medicine recommended that the American drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, bar drug companies from advertising prescription drugs in the first two years after they come to market. It is during that period when a drug first starts to be broadly used that side-effects not seen in clinical trials can become evident. ...more

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