Do Pharmaceutical Commercials Benefit Americans?

On this week’s JOURNAL, Bill Moyers spoke with Melody Petersen, an
independent journalist who formerly covered the drug industry for the
NEW YORK TIMES and is author of OUR DAILY MEDS: HOW THE PHARMACEUTICAL
COMPANIES TRANSFORMED THEMSELVES INTO SLICK MARKETING MACHINES AND
HOOKED THE NATION ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS.
Addressing how advertising and marketing have affected the
prescription drug business, Petersen said:

“A very powerful technique that the drug companies spend millions and
millions of dollars on is hiring physicians to give lectures to other
physicians on their drugs. It looks like the physician is up there
giving his independent position on this drug, but often he’s been
trained by an advertising agency. His slide presentation has been
created by an ad agency. It looks like independent science, but it’s
not... They want to get as many articles published in our medical
journals as they can that show their products in favorable lights and
will get physicians to prescribe them, so they often hire a Madison
Avenue ad agency to write up an article for them or a study. The name
of the ad agency rarely appears in the published version; instead,
they hire doctors to put their names on as author... It’s gone so far
that some independent scientists are starting to view our medical
literature as propaganda.”

Others, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), argue
that “direct to consumer” ads help educate and engage prospective
patients about their healthcare options.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/