U.S. doctor group calls
for ban on drug advertising to consumers
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[November 18, 2015]
By Susan Kelly
(Reuters) - The American Medical
Association on Tuesday called for a ban on advertising prescription
drugs and medical devices directly to consumers, saying the ads drive
patients to demand expensive treatments over less costly ones that are
also effective.
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The influential doctors' group said the new policy reflects
physicians' concerns that marketing spending on a proliferation of
advertising is helping to drive up drug prices. The group voted at
its annual meeting in Atlanta to support a ban.
"Direct-to-consumer advertising also inflates demand for new and
more expensive drugs, even when those drugs may not be appropriate,"
AMA Board Chair-elect Patrice Harris said in a statement.
The United States and New Zealand are the only two countries that
allow direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.
AMA said drugmakers' spending on advertising has shot up 30 percent
in the last two years to $4.5 billion. TV commercials for drugs such
as Bristol-Myers Squibb's lung cancer medicine Opdivo and Gilead
Sciences' Hepatitis C treatment Harvoni were among this year's ad
campaigns.
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U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has proposed
cracking down on direct-to-consumer advertising and other measures
to stop what she called "price gouging" by pharmaceutical companies.
Clinton's plan would prevent companies from deducting what they
spend on direct-to-consumer ads from their tax bills.
A series of court decisions has determined the ads cannot be banned
outright because they are a form of commercial speech protected by
the U.S. Constitution. The AMA did not address how the ban could be
accomplished without being overturned in court.
PhRMA, the largest U.S. trade group for the pharmaceutical industry,
said the ads increase consumer awareness of available treatments for
diseases, including undiagnosed conditions.
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"Providing scientifically accurate information to patients so that
they are better informed about their health care and treatment
options is the goal of direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising
about prescription medicines," PhRMA spokesman Tina Stow said in an
email.
According to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration analysis this year,
52 percent of Americans believe direct-to-consumer ads do not have
enough information about risks and 46 percent say the ads lack
information about benefits.
(Reporting by Susan Kelly in Chicago; additional reporting by Bill
Berkrot in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
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