DRUG ADVERTISING MAKES ME PUKE

On a bridge somewhere

Deception Pass?

Somewhere recently I mentioned that Big Pharma spends more on advertising than on research and development.  I’m not sure how to react to this fact (if it is a fact – I suppose somebody might have made the whole thing up.)  My gut-level response is mostly a blend of anger and disgust.  The disgust portion stems from the annoying nature of TV ads touting new drugs, which invariably end with the words “ask your doctor if Fidoplex could be right for you.” Characteristic of most of these ads is the obligatory two minute litany of side effects, usually ending with “death”. I particularly like the one that always terminates with two people, of opposite sex, in adjacent bathtubs!  These prime time ads must cost a fortune!  Why not spend that fortune searching for new drugs or therapies? 

Not so long ago there were people called drug reps.  These guys each represented some particular drug company, and they were tasked with bringing the new pharmaceutical marvel of the moment to the attention of the clinicians who wrote prescriptions.  Before Linda became a physical therapist she worked at the front desk of a group of physicians; one of her primary responsibilities was to keep these gentlemen from totally disrupting the daily flow of business.  Still, the drug reps got in, spoke directly to the doctor, explained their new wares, and left samples.  The doctor then made up his or her mind.

I suspect that the earlier way of disseminating news of new therapies (drug reps and free samples) cost a hell of a lot less than today’s  big, splashy TV ads, and did the job better.  Surely the med people must have preferred it: imagine how annoying it would be to have half a dozen patients every day ask “What about this Fidoplex stuff doc?  Sure sounds like a world beater.”

I acknowledge that there has to be a means of disseminating news of new therapies.  Ideally, the meds involved would read about them in professional journals, or learn about them at professional meetings.  Ideally, yes, but our modern doctors are far too busy to read all those journals, or go to all those meetings.  They deserve to put up their feet and watch Jeopardy when they get home, if that’s what they want to do.  They are, after all, human.

So, bring back the drug reps.  I don’t know where they went, nor why. (As an aside: I used to get scads of free pills, and now I have to buy ‘em.)   Finally – Big Pharma – quit annoying me with your stupid, splashy ads, and plow the money you save into something useful.