Pharmaceutical Advertising

[UpInArms]

11. Some back history on pharmaceutical advertising

The FDA decided in 1997 to relax its rules. In their TV spots, drug makers could now refer viewers to print ads, offer 1-800 numbers or websites, and urge people to talk to their doctor if they wanted that additional information that the FDA had previously required for TV ads, too, if they promoted particular drugs for particular conditions. That let drug makers air more detailed ads that made specific medical claims for specific drugs, the kind that now dominate airwaves.

“All of these changes together created a market situation where the industry wanted to move in this direction,” said Meredith Rosenthal, a health economist at Harvard University who has studied direct-to-consumer advertising, “and they basically pushed regulators to clarify these issues.”

The industry had won. Spending on all direct-to-consumer advertising ballooned from $360 million in 1995 to $1.3 billion in 1998. By 2006, it hit $5 billion, and most of that was on television commercials.

More here The untold story of TV’s first prescription drug ad