I'm pretty familiar with the long list of cons but are there any pros to allowing companies to market prescription drugs on TV?
I'm pretty familiar with the long list of cons but are there any pros to allowing companies to market prescription drugs on TV?
I'm pretty familiar with the long list of cons but are there any pros to allowing companies to market prescription drugs on TV?
But beyond the first amendment, do they actually contribute anything? I get that it's important to let them advertise, but can anyone think of how they improve patient care?
I can think of two situations where it may benefit the patient:
1) Puts the symptoms of a disease (which now has a newish treatment) front and center, which leads them to talk about it with their physician rather than think it's normal.
2) Pushes them to advocate for themselves to get their treatment changed to something that may be more convenient to them. For example, the last dozen years there's been an explosion of treatments for diabetes, but if you're overall doing well your physician might not want to change your therapy. Why would he? Your numbers are great. But if you hear about this great new pill/shot that might mean you get to take shots of insulin less often... maybe just asking about it could lead to change that is more convenient to you. Now, a good physician should frequently re-evaluate therapies for his patient in light of any new options, but inertia is a powerful force and there's a component of "if it ain't broke..." in there.