Excerpt: Their analysis found that the pharmaceutical industry’s total
real spending on drug promotions almost tripled – from just over $11.4
billion to almost $30 billion — between 1996 and 2005.
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Health Lover
http://www.upmc.com/Communications/MediaRelations/NewsReleaseArchives/2007/August/DonohueAdvertising.htm
Spending on Direct-To-Consumer Advertising by Pharmaceutical
Companies More Than Triples in Past Decade
University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health Study Finds
FDA Lacking Oversight
PITTSBURGH, August 15, 2007 — Spending on direct-to-consumer
advertising by the pharmaceutical industry has increased dramatically
over the past decade despite a growing chorus of criticism and
regulatory actions leveled against it, according to a study being
published in the August 16 issue of The New England Journal of
Medicine.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh
Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) with collaborators at the
Harvard School of Public Health and Vanderbilt University, suggests
that calls for Congress to institute a longer moratorium on such
advertising for new drugs would represent a dramatic departure from
current practices.
The marketing of prescription drugs directly to patients, in addition
to primary care or specialty physicians, has come under scrutiny in
light of recent revelations about problems with adverse drug reactions
that became apparent only after the drugs had been on the market and
aggressively advertised for several years.
“Our analysis found that the trend toward increasing spending on
direct-to-consumer advertising is likely to continue and efforts to
enforce more stringent guidelines on such practices would require not
only significant changes by the pharmaceutical industry but by the FDA
as well,” explained Julie Donohue, Ph.D., assistant professor of
health policy and management, GSPH.
Two influential agencies calling for increased Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) oversight of direct-to-consumer advertising are
the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences,
and the U.S. Government Accountability Office; both have found that
the FDA’s enforcement of regulations governing direct-to-consumer
advertising is inadequate. Legislation has been proposed in both the
U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives that would give the FDA
the power to screen all drug advertisements before they air and to
place a moratorium on ads for a particular drug for several years
after it has been approved.
Dr. Donohue and colleagues analyzed industrywide spending by
pharmaceutical companies on direct-to-consumer advertising and
promotions to physicians over the past decade. They also tapped into
industry data to analyze which drugs were being advertised and to
whom, as well as the timing of such advertising campaigns. Finally,
they examined the number of FDA enforcement actions directed at such
promotions from 1997 to 2006.
Their analysis found that the pharmaceutical industry’s total real
spending on drug promotions almost tripled – from just over $11.4
billion to almost $30 billion — between 1996 and 2005. They also found
that the overwhelming majority of drug advertising was targeted to
physicians. However, over the past nine years, spending on
direct-to-consumer advertising and free samples has risen as a share
of the total promotion budget, whereas promotional investment in
professional journals fell. Real spending on direct-to-consumer
advertising increased by 330 percent from 1996 to 2005 and made up 14
percent of total promotional expenditures in 2005 compared to less
than 9 percent in 1996.
Spending on direct-to-consumer advertising was concentrated among a
relatively small number of brands. The 20 drugs with the highest
spending made up more than half (54.4 percent) of total industry
spending on advertising in 2005. Most of these drugs were
predominantly new drugs used to treat chronic conditions; 10 of the
top 20 drugs, as ranked by advertising spending, were introduced in
2000 or later. Notably, nearly all (17 of 20) advertising campaigns
for the most heavily advertised drugs began within a year of receiving
FDA approval.
According to Meredith B. Rosenthal, Ph.D., associate professor of
health economics and policy, Harvard School of Public Health, “The
apparent decline in FDA enforcement of direct-to-consumer drug
advertising regulations calls into question the FDA’s ability to
prevent misleading messages about drug risks and benefits from
reaching the public and heightens concerns about the potential adverse
consequences such advertising might engender,” she said.
This study was sup****ted by a grant to Dr. Donohue from the National
Center for Research Resources, a component of the National Institutes
of Health; NIH Roadmap for Medical Research; and the Alfred P. Sloan
Foundation to Dr. Rosenthal. Dr. Donohue re****ts receiving consulting
fees from GlaxoSmithKline and CanWest Global Communications.
Founded in 1948 and fully accredited by the Council on Education for
Public Health, GSPH is world-renowned for contributions that have
influenced public health practices and medical care for millions of
people. One of the top-ranked schools of public health in the United
States, GSPH was the first fully accredited school of public health in
the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with alumni who are among the
leaders in their fields of public health. A member of the Association
of Schools of Public Health, GSPH currently ranks third among schools
of public health in National Institutes of Health funding received.
The only school of public health in the nation with a chair in
minority health, GSPH is a leader in research related to women’s
health, HIV/AIDS and human genetics, among others. For more
information about GSPH, visit the school’s Web site at
http://www.publichealth.pitt.edu.
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