Where's That Spoonful of Sugar? [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [3] called drug ads [4] "fuel to America's skyrocketing drug costs" and asked companies to wait two years before advertising new drugs. Bristol-Myers Squibb [5] set its own one-year moratorium on new drug ads. Legislation with bipartisan support would create a new office within the Food and Drug Administration [6] to "evaluate advertisements for new drugs and high-risk drugs and treatments." The American Medical Association [7] is studying whether drug ads lead to "unnecessary prescriptions and higher health costs." All this has the pharmaceutical industry [8] "scrambling to respond." The lobby group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America [9] is "drafting new guidelines." Drug ads should "include a greater discussion of the risks," admitted PhRMA vice-president Ken Johnson. But if restrictions are placed on drug ads, "you'll probably see maybe more public relations" targeted to doctors, predicted Ogilvy & Mather [10]'s Michael Guarini.