Rant on ignorant drug ads

[Aznfarmerboi]

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I have seen a few drug commercials on tv that really annoys me sometimes. The most recent one is the cold medication by (forgot company). They start off with "with all the news concerning cold medications, you are probably concern with questions like what should I do if my children spits out half the medicine, do I administer another dose, or blah blah blah". In the end, they then would say if you have any questions, talk to your pediatrician. I wonder how do pediatricians feel about waking up in the middle of the night with such stupid questions.

Then there is the one about lipitor, where you have a doctor teacher teaching a bunch of med school students, and they all list a fact about lipitor. "Lipitor should not be taking if you have muscle problems, if you feel any signs of weakness, stop it immediately and talk to your doctor as it might be a sign of a more serious problem", or the one about the Yaz where the woman goes to meet up with her friend and they are all going hey what are you here, dont you have the period. . . and she blurts out a bunch of facts about yaz with her friend saying, okay smarty. . . and she going of course, I went to med school.

Where is the credit to pharmacists? and the rigor of pharmacy school. . .

 

[PharmDstudent]

I have seen a few drug commercials on tv that really annoys me sometimes. The most recent one is the cold medication by (forgot company). They start off with "with all the news concerning cold medications, you are probably concern with questions like what should I do if my children spits out half the medicine, do I administer another dose, or blah blah blah". In the end, they then would say if you have any questions, talk to your pediatrician. I wonder how do pediatricians feel about waking up in the middle of the night with such stupid questions.

Then there is the one about lipitor, where you have a doctor teacher teaching a bunch of med school students, and they all list a fact about lipitor. "Lipitor should not be taking if you have muscle problems, if you feel any signs of weakness, stop it immediately and talk to your doctor as it might be a sign of a more serious problem", or the one about the Yaz where the woman goes to meet up with her friend and they are all going hey what are you here, dont you have the period. . . and she blurts out a bunch of facts about yaz with her friend saying, okay smarty. . . and she going of course, I went to med school.

Where is the credit to pharmacists? and the rigor of pharmacy school. . .

It's all in the white coat. You get to wear one of those beauties with "Pharmacist" written on it. Isn't that enough? 😛

 

[evilolive]

Do you remember when allegra used to have the windsurfing in the golden fields? The relevence of those commercials never ceased to amaze me. The onion made fun of the ads in this article, which I always find hilarious to this day.

FDA Approves Sale of Prescription Placebo:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39082

 

[parabolic]

Do you remember when allegra used to have the windsurfing in the golden fields? The relevence of those commercials never ceased to amaze me. The onion made fun of the ads in this article, which I always find hilarious to this day.

FDA Approves Sale of Prescription Placebo:
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39082

That article is hilarious!

How about the really annoying drug commercials? I can't stand the "singing Astelins" one.

 

[twester]

How about that post-holiday marketing blitz for Alli? You have a bunch of people in a simulated chatroom telling each other how great it is and minimizing the side effects. One woman effuses, "I even had chicken fajitas for lunch!" But what she didn't tell her chatroom buddies was that she spent the next three hours ejecting oil from her anus. The ads are designed primarily to counter what patients are being warned about by pharmacists.

 

[confettiflyer]

I like the bee with the latin american accent, hahaha. My friend's niece started calling butterflies "lunestas" hahaha

 

[PharmDstudent]

I like the bee with the latin american accent, hahaha. My friend's niece started calling butterflies "lunestas" hahaha

That's the Nasonex commercial, right?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrUF3JzD9P4&sa=X&oi=video_result&resnum=9&ct=title&cd=1&cad=rhs[/youtube]

The Lunesta commercial does have those pretty butterflies...

 

[SexyPlexi]

How about that post-holiday marketing blitz for Alli? You have a bunch of people in a simulated chatroom telling each other how great it is and minimizing the side effects. One woman effuses, "I even had chicken fajitas for lunch!" But what she didn't tell her chatroom buddies was that she spent the next three hours ejecting oil from her anus. The ads are designed primarily to counter what patients are being warned about by pharmacists.

YES!! I saw that too. I thought the exact same thing.

Now seriously...I need to know...is restless leg syndrome REAL? I swear drug companies make things up to sell drugs to people. I could be wrong!

 

[OKgirl]

Now seriously...I need to know...is restless leg syndrome REAL? I swear drug companies make things up to sell drugs to people. I could be wrong!

I think it may be, but it is overly prescribed. I had a problem with my ARMS going numb and the doc said it was RLS. I think its really just a side effect of thinking about too much stuff that you need to do or bad blood flow or something. lol

I think many meds are developed just so docs can treat something they can't figure out and sometimes I think its just something thats normal and needs no treatment (like how ADD meds are given to any kind who won't do the same thing for 5 minutes or whatever they say are symptoms--they are kids, kids have tons of energy and like to be entertained).

 

[evilolive]

I really like the lunesta commercial, as it's one of the few that actually makes me feel all warm and cuddly inside when I'm about to fall asleep. Although I must say, imagine how scary it would be if the next generation of toddlers referred to all butterflies as Lunestas.

 

[azPharmD2B]

I want to know how many tries it takes the voice over person to say "certain sexual side effects" or "anal leakage" without busting out laughing.

 

[Fenderplayer108]

[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=7GvYI4VdVEI[/youtube]

this is an interesting one.

 

[Priapism321]

video

Just a scaled down version of their last bull**** advertisement touting the benefits while downplaying the adverse event profile of a medication with no benefit over anything else that is marketed. This one is a bit more tame, but I still think it should not be available to the public. But then again, I don't think the drug should be available to the public so....

Whoops, that's not even the scaled back version, I just saw the graphic and assumed you were linking their new advertisement.....this one is the most egregious, misleading commercial I think I have ever seen. There is a new one that I have seen on television more recently though.

 

[loo]

The Valtrex commercial.

Hate it on multiple levels. It is not educational in the least.

1. Sexist because they portray a female (not male---naw, guys don't ever give anybody herpes) constantly stating that "it's under control".

2. They NEVER mention (blatantly) that herpes is INCURABLE.

3. Take Valtrex and you can screw anyone you want---our drug helps keep you in remission. Never mind personal responsibility. Maybe they'll come up with a drug for that.

Personally, I'd like to see more ads for atypical antipsychotics.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

That Celebrex commercial reminds me of the brainwashing ditty Will Ferrel's character put on Ben Stiller's character....yes...must...buy..Celebrex...mmm...delicious...

 

[PharmDstudent]

If my knowledge of what we learned in medicinal chemistry is still intact, COX2 selective drugs cause a higher risk of complication associated with cardiovascular disease, because they have greater selectivity for the COX2 enzyme that leads to the production of prostaglandins.
With COX2 inhibitors, the primary insult to the stomach may be limited, but the repair mechanisms (prostagladins) within the coronary arteries will shut off. Therefore, the chances of heart attack and stroke may increase, because the body will not be able to repair small injuries within the arteries that are occurring on a regular basis. Traditional NSAIDs will also shut off the COX2 enzyme, but they have less specificity for that enzyme, i.e. there is less inhibition of prostaglandin-initiated repair with traditional NSAIDs.

I don't really see the need for Celebrex when there are other alternatives. I'm looking at this little chart (sorry, but I don't know the name of the book that it's from), and it shows that Celebrex is 5 to 50 times more selective for COX2 than COX1. Other drugs, such as Diclofenac and Piroxicam are more selective for COX2, but they are less than 5 times more selective, which means that they should provide more relief from primary insult than IBU and naproxen, and they should also have less adverse effects from the inhibition of prostaglandins than Celebrex too.

Diclofenac, Piroxicam, and a few other drugs are sort of like the moderates of the COX1/2 game. They're a little more selective for COX2, but they aren't overwhelmingly selective.

 

[Old Timer]

The best drug commercial ever.

 

[WVUPharm2007]

(sorry, but I don't know the name of the book that it's from)

Probably Foye's....the only interesting book there is...

 

[Priapism321]

If my knowledge of what we learned in medicinal chemistry is still intact, COX2 selective drugs cause a higher risk of complication associated with cardiovascular disease, because they have greater selectivity for the COX2 enzyme that leads to the production of prostaglandins.
With COX2 inhibitors, the primary insult to the stomach may be limited, but the repair mechanisms (prostagladins) within the coronary arteries will shut off. Therefore, the chances of heart attack and stroke may increase, because the body will not be able to repair small injuries within the arteries that are occurring on a regular basis. Traditional NSAIDs will also shut off the COX2 enzyme, but they have less specificity for that enzyme, i.e. there is less inhibition of prostaglandin-initiated repair with traditional NSAIDs.

I don't really see the need for Celebrex when there are other alternatives. I'm looking at this little chart (sorry, but I don't know the name of the book that it's from), and it shows that Celebrex is 5 to 50 times more selective for COX2 than COX1. Other drugs, such as Diclofenac and Piroxicam are more selective for COX2, but they are less than 5 times more selective, which means that they should provide more relief from primary insult than IBU and naproxen, and they should also have less adverse effects from the inhibition of prostaglandins than Celebrex too.

Diclofenac, Piroxicam, and a few other drugs are sort of like the moderates of the COX1/2 game. They're a little more selective for COX2, but they aren't overwhelmingly selective.

You can talk to me about chemistry and the theoretical benefits/possibilities all you would like. Look at the actual clinical data and then we can talk (i.e., what happens when real live humans actually take the stuff and scientists observe them). I would start with the CLASS trial, and not the 6 months of data that was published in JAMA (funny how the pharmaceutical company and authors just forgot about half of the study after prespecifying that they would be looking at outcomes for one year, why would they ever do such a thing?), but all 12 months that can only be found on the FDA's website.

My summary:

No better at relieving pain
Just as toxic to the gastrointestinal tract (pretty sad when gastroprotection was this drug's claim to fame)
Cardiotoxic (Risk:Benefit ratio sort of tilts to the point where COX-2 inhibitors flat out should not be used)

 

[PharmDstudent]

You can talk to me about chemistry and the theoretical benefits/possibilities all you would like. Look at the actual clinical data and then we can talk (i.e., what happens when real live humans actually take the stuff and scientists observe them). I would start with the CLASS trial, and not the 6 months of data that was published in JAMA (funny how the pharmaceutical company and authors just forgot about half of the study after prespecifying that they would be looking at outcomes for one year, why would they ever do such a thing?), but all 12 months that can only be found on the FDA's website.

My summary:

No better at relieving pain
Just as toxic to the gastrointestinal tract (pretty sad when gastroprotection was this drug's claim to fame)
Cardiotoxic (Risk:Benefit ratio sort of tilts to the point where COX-2 inhibitors flat out should not be used)

Placebos have clinical significance too .