Say Goodbye to Those Absurd Side-Effects Readouts in Drug Commercials. The FDA finalized a rule that will require a drug’s side effects to be "presented in a clear, conspicuous, and neutral manner.”
Say Goodbye to Those Absurd Side-Effects Readouts in Drug Commercials. The FDA finalized a rule that will require a drug’s side effects to be "presented in a clear, conspicuous, and neutral manner.”
The FDA finalized a rule that will require a drug’s side effects to be "presented in a clear, conspicuous, and neutral manner.”
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How about no drug adverts? Is that really so hard? I don't know a single person who has ever asked their doctor about something they saw on TV.
They're only legal in two countries- the U.S. and New Zealand.
Canada has drug ads, but with special rules. You can either mention the drug name or its indication, but not both.
So you'll get ads that say stuff like "Ozempic - ask your doctor if it's right for you" with people happily eating in a coffeeshop. But they won't tell you what Ozempic is supposed to do.
Is that the one with the song and dance number? Probs anal seepage.
Akshully according to the article it's only legal in 2 MAJOR countries. I'm curious to know which minor countries it's legal in.
Kiwi's a bit perplexed they were called a major country...
I guess the author considers Canada a minor country.
They weren't going by landmass if it's legal in Canada.
I don't know a single person who has ever asked their doctor about something they saw on TV.
How many people have you asked this question to? You understand reality is not comprised of your personal experiences? There are billions of people you will never meet?
It's obviously working. These companies aren't spending millions of $ on advertising just to have 0 ROI.
I know a few doctors, and they all hate drug commercials (as well as webMD) because patients come in with their self-diagnosis trying to order drugs like it’s a friggin restaurant. One of them told me that even when she clearly informs them that’s not how this works, they regularly get pissed off as she continues to tell them no and doesn’t budge. She also said she knows other less stubborn or principled doctors that give into the pressure, which is exactly how big pharmaceutical companies like it.
Well I can relate both as a professional and a consumer.
It's obviously working. These companies aren't spending millions of $ on advertising just to have 0 ROI.
I think you're probably right here, but just want to say that I've personally I've worked in multiple companies where they've spent millions on different things with no ROI. So it definitely happens. Sometimes leaders just like an idea and want to spend money on it.
While I agree in principle, there are people with fibromyalgia who wouldn’t know medications exist for it otherwise, because their doctors barely understand fibromyalgia.
This is true for a lot of other cases too. People live with chronic conditions because they either don't know that it's an issue and there's treatment, or they sought treatment and there wasn't any help at the time, and since then there have been new drugs release
There’s so much new stuff coming out that most doctors don’t know anything about it until someone mentions it or they go look it up on the internet. Some will only refer to their huge out-of-date drug encyclopedia and if it’s not there you’re SOL.
I know a few people with fibromyalgia who didn’t know that’s what they had until they saw a commercial for it. Doctors never mentioned it as a possible diagnosis.
Almost as if doctors need CE training, huh?
And even then there would still be blind spots.
As someone who worked in the medical CE space, oh yea. The doctors who have the most pull are the dinosaurs who have been using the same techniques for decades. Meanwhile the doctors with fresher views and novel techniques based upon new evidence struggle to get a dozen doctors to attend.
Especially for general practitioners. If you’re a specialist with a narrow focus it’s
easiernot as difficult to stay current but if you’re expected to know enough about everything to refer patients to those specialists, there’s a lot to stay current on, even if you’re motivated to do so.
Most people don't even Google their medications or illnesses. "Ask your doctor about" is frankly not bad advice much of the time.
I was so happy when I heard my doctor schooling a few pharma reps on how the drug they were pushing actually works.
Unclear… do you mean for the better or worse? Could go either way.
I'm not sure I understand your confusion.
how the drug they were pushing actually works
Does that mean he/she was explaining the mechanism by which it works and it was good? Or was she/he explaining negative side effects they failed to mention or didn’t understand? Something else?
Ah, she was just correcting them on the mechanism of action, so I don't think it was a good or bad thing. I was paying and leaving, so I couldn't stay for the whole convo.
Thank you for coming back to this! Yes, that sounds like a great doctor, good to hear she wasn’t having to school them on how it was causing harm or something like that.
I wonder if they should only allow generalized, industry-wide ads that don’t focus on a specific drug, or even company.
You know, like we see ads for broad categories of food, like cheese, beef, and milk, for some reason.
“Did you know that new treatments are available for things like fibromyalgia, depression, and heart disease? Talk to your doctor today!”
Actually about 50% of the time your doctor will give it to you just by you asking. That's why they do this. You're not a person that advertising works on, but remember that the country is filled with monkeys.
Maybe not medications, but people generally write off benign symptoms quickly, and a series of benign symptoms can often be an indication of something more serious.
Then that person sees a commercial and it lists all the symptoms they've been having at once and it makes them go "Hey wait a minute, all those symptoms sound familiar, maybe I should make an appointment"
Iirc there was a study a few years ago that determined that medication commercials can increase the rate people see doctors.
Then you have to spend years trying to convince your doctor that it's not because you're overweight or just imagining it.
Well yea, but that's a whole separate issue
I actually did with Ubrelvy for migraines, but it was something my doctor was about to give me samples of anyway.
All of the medications that are little more than QoL things. Frequent urinarion. ED. Dry mouth.
Things you wouldn’t normally ask a doctor about being a condition.
That's not very capitalist of you! MURICA! /s
But where else can I hear that awful “nothing is everything” song?!