Drug Commercials - Is America that sick???

[on-ramp]

It seems every other commercial on cable these days is for some type of drug or another...

What is going on? Is America that sick? They say go tell your doctor about this drug...

Go tell my doctor???? Shouldn't my doctor be telling me!!!???


If i attempt to sell a drug on the street, i can get 20 years to life.
how can drug companies push these in our face day to day. it's disgraceful. I dont pay cable to watch drug commercials.

[Nathans_Dad]

No America is not any sicker than they were 50 years ago. The difference is that people today seem to think that there is (or should be) a pill to take for everything that might bother you, from arthritis to erectile dysfunction to insomnia to anxiety to fibromyalgia.

Americans want their drugs and the pharmaceutical company is more than happy to oblige them.

[singpilot]

The part that always cracks me up is the fine print.

'ClyMedia may cause bloating, gaseous distress, an oily discharge, and severe nosebleeds.'

I don't care what you now have, most of those are far worse.

[Drago]

Originally posted by singpilot
The part that always cracks me up is the fine print.

'ClyMedia may cause bloating, gaseous distress, an oily discharge, and severe nosebleeds.'

I don't care what you now have, most of those are far worse.

You say that like oily discharges are a bad thing...

I'm up to four pills every morning. Stomach meds, B.P. meds, allergy meds (seasonal...'tis the season) and a new pill that helps knock down the shooting pains I was getting in my feet.

It gets expensive fast. Fortunately, I have a Dr. that is generous with the samples.

[ronin]

Originally posted by on-ramp
Drug Commercials - Is America that sick???

no, but the business is that competitive

[RoninLB]

It's marketing by the big guys to get the patients to ask for specific drug mfg other than accept the generics.

it's effective.

[jyl]

Pharmaceuticals is an HUGE industry.

As the companies grow, to maintain their growth rate and keep their stock price up, they have to increase their sales by ever-larger amount. For example, PFE is a $51BN company, to grow 5% they'd have to add $2.5BN sales in 2006, compare to 5 years ago when it was only a $29BN company.

Some huge blockbuster drugs are coming off patent now and in the coming years. Each big pharma company will see tens of $BNs of sales disappear as these giant cash cow drugs go generic. Since patented drugs carry 90% gross margins, the loss of profits is also huge.

Big pharma has not been as effective in discovering and commercializing new blockbuster drugs, as in decades past. This is partly because the most promising new drugs are being developed by the biotechnology industry, which for various reasons is separate from the pharma industry.

So the big pharma companies are under intense pressure to generate more sales from their existing drugs.

The traditional route of hiring more pharma sales reps to sell to prescribing doctors is becoming less effective. Doctors are busy and have only so many minutes in the day to see sales reps.

So the big pharma companies have increasing resorted to direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising. The idea is to get you and I interested in a drug so that we ask our doctors to prescribe it. Part of this is by convincing us that a symptom is a disease to be treated, rather than just a part of life to be tolerated.

The practice has generated some backlash, and some big pharma companies have said they'll curtail DTC advertising. But they don't really mean it.

This is all about large companies striving to protect and grow their profits. Going back to PFE, its net income was $8BN last year. To protect that, will buy a lot of cable TV time.

[Jims5543]

Come to Florida, there is a Wallgreens or CVS on every corner and I am not kidding. I know of 5 drug stores in a 1 mile radius from my office.

[masraum]

America isn't that sick, but Drug companies are sickening.

For the most part it's a load of crap. Hell, most of the stomach/intestinal stuff that they advertise these days would be unnecessary if people just ate better.

THe drug companies hate my type. I try to take as few pills as possible. I don't even take aspirin usually.

[arcsine]

I worked in big pharma/biotech for years and the spending for marketing always exceeded expenditures for research by a large margin. And this does not include the sales, medical science liasons and professional services groups that are there to "help" physicians with their prescription wriitings. If the pharmas can get you to push your doctor to prescribe drugs to you it all works out the same for them.

[wrecktech]

Anyone see the Simpsons where Homer was using a hair growth/viagra type drug and the warning was "Caution, may cause loss of scalp and p****"

[Moneyguy1]

Blame in part the baby boomers, scared of aging. The pharms are just feeding into the paranoia.

[legion]

Originally posted by on-ramp
If i attempt to sell a drug on the street, i can get 20 years to life.
how can drug companies push these in our face day to day. it's disgraceful. I dont pay cable to watch drug commercials.

It's even sicker than that...

IIRC, the "Partnership for a Drug-Free America" is funded mostly by big Pharma.

Let's outlaw the "bad" drugs so we can sell you the "good" drugs...

[Tobra]

They spend a lot of money on research, have to recover it, so they spend a lot more on advertising.

Makes perfect sense

[tobster1911]

Originally posted by masraum
THe drug companies hate my type. I try to take as few pills as possible. I don't even take aspirin usually.

+1

A headache will normally go away with a little relaxation

[VaSteve]

I told my doctor I had adult ADD. He told my I was FOS.

[Drago]

Originally posted by masraum
Hell, most of the stomach/intestinal stuff that they advertise these days would be unnecessary if people just ate better.

I watch what I eat constantly and still have problems. I don't know the medical term for it but the valve at the top of my esophagus doesn't close properly. Never bothered me until I hit 30 or so. Seems to run in the family as my Mom, Grandfather, and several cousins all take meds for the same thing.

I try to take as few pills as possible. I don't even take aspirin usually.

I'm the same. Only what is necessary. I recently had the Big-V done...still have a nice big bottle of Hydrocodone in the medicine cabinet.

[Drago]

Following that logic you would have thought my Big-V was covered by my insurance.

Clearly, a 45 minute procedure has to be cheaper in the long run than another rugrat running around for 18+ years.

[Moses]

Originally posted by jyl
... convincing us that a symptom is a disease to be treated, rather than just a part of life to be tolerated.

Beautifully put. That's a huge part of the problem.

The TV commercial shows a middle aged man driving down a beautiful stretch of highway in a convertible, at the ballpark with his buddies, roaming the beach with his dog...hell, I want his life! What do I need to take?

[azasadny]

Better living through chemistry...