Congress and the Drug Commercial
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Drug makers peddle their drugs at a cost of about 2.4 billion dollars a year, all those Viagra and Lipitor songs and dances. If one thinks about how much less expensive these medications would be without advertising, then that should be enough of a force to eliminate them. Only one other country in the entire world, New Zealand, allows for drug advertising. Now several members of Congress have finally introduced bills to curb this advertising. One bill, which I like, would not allow any advertising on new drugs for a couple of years until they are given a chance to show fatal flaws as Vioxx and many others before have done. Another bill would remove the tax break that companies now receive for advertising. I think this approach circumvents the real problem and probably would not affect the bottom line of these giant companies. A third bill worries about the decency of Viagra type ads and attempts to just stop these. This bill is too late even if decency were involved since almost everyone has seen these ads so often.
What are the advantages of such advertising? Some argue that it is a free speech right and I disagree with this. While educating people about illnesses and potential treatments is worthwhile that is not what these ads do. They offer quick fixes to complicated illnesses and by going directly to the consumer they undermine the very fabric of medical decision making. The FDA has a responsibility to control the distribution of drugs and this advertising undermines that control. The ads have some patients pressure doctors to prescribe drugs that can be quite harmful especially if the full diagnosis is bypassed. We all get our TV news for free by watching these ads but this is much worse than drug companies giving free pens to doctors. Another Congressman proposed that by removing the tax break we could help fund the new health care law. Media lobbyists came down strong on it because the media would also lose revenue. Thus we are in the age of big money and big corporation, some too big to fail. The average person gets no bailout no mortgage relief no huge bonus but as of now he or she is fortunate enough to see the Viagra - Cialis and Lipitor - Crestor battles in high def.
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