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Effect of direct-to-consumer care drug ads have unexpected results

Healthcare Strategist Trend Watch, September 15, 2006

Television advertising of prescription drugs may prompt more people to visit their doctors rather than substantially increasing sales of the advertised drugs, according to research results released by the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston. The MUSC team reported on two drugs, Vioxx and Celebrex, in a study to determine whether pharmaceutical companies can influence physician and patient decisions about adopting pharmaceutical therapy, according to a MUSC release.

David Bradford, director of MUSC's Center for Health Economic Policy Studies, said in a statement that for both drugs, direct to consumer advertising tended to increase visits by patients to their physicians. Bradford added that "once the patients got to the doctor's office, advertising was not the biggest factor affecting prescribing."

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