DTC bad for consumers?

Could DTC marketing be a bad thing for the consumer/ public at large? If products that can address mass diseases are mass marketed, diseases which cannot be marketed may end up not addressed by pharmaceutical companies.

I'm a big believer in self-regulation for markets. I believe that any industry well end up correcting itself. Much like the extra caution taken by lenders and borrowers today after our country's sub prime loan debacle, compared to the years it will take our government to impose regulations to prevent another high risk credit bomb like the one that exploded last year. But pharma seems different. We can't afford the time and health is far more than money. Not to be sappy, but we can always make more money...can't make more health if you loose it.

Will R&D on lesser prevalent diseases be nipped in the bud because they are not viable (profitable) on the mass scale? If so, should government intervene?

DTC pharma marketing and the media. Old news to consumers?

Pharmaceutical comanies spend upwards of $30 billion dollars a year in marketing (according to Pharma Marketing Blog http://pharmamkting.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html.) That is about the same as the auto industry.$15 billion of that goes to free samples and Busines to Busniess marketing to doctors and $6billion of that goes to DTC marketing.

What has the emergence of consumer pharma advertising meant to the media companies?...Aside from a growth sector in ad revenues. Is this a new area of advertising for “large audience” media (i.e. newpapers, TV) or will spending in pharma advertising deteriorate as marketers become more savvy in the degree of granularity that they can target?

Is DTC pharma marketing the lesser of two evils? Were doctors better informed when pharma companies would only marketer to them? If doctors aren’t being courted with big marketing budgets any more, are they more apt to prescribe lower cost substitutes?

Is more information good information?

I grew up to believe that for the consumer, more information is good information. Yet, what have we learned from the credit crisis? The government is already taking responsibility for allowing mortgage marketers to sell too hard to consumers. Too much information without the analysis that paints the whole picture can be dangerous. This made many easy prey.

When it comes to pharma can too much information actually be a bad thing?

What about all those disclaimers?

Blah, blah, blah…..DTC Pharma marketing is famous for its lengthy disclaimers (you know all the pages of stuff you are required to put in after the print ad or the whole 30 seconds of disclaimers on tv and radio)…. “if you take this, you will experience discomfort while seated, pain while standing, dry tongue, wet mouth, dizziness, nausea, eating while unconscious and possibly death”

If doctors still need to prescribe these drugs, are these costly ad pages and air time really necessary, especially since doctors still need to prescribe them?