Pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers
Squibb has announced that they will suspend
direct-to-consumer advertising for their
prescription drug products for a year. This
comes in the wake of the well-publicized
withdrawals of Merck’s Vioxx and Pfizer’s
Bextra, two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs) that were voluntarily withdrawn
from the market recently. Studies showed that
they increase the likelihood of strokes and
heart attacks among patients that take them for
prolonged periods of time. This represents an
unusual move for a pharmaceutical company, as
they tend to spend a large portion of their
annual advertising budget on direct-to-consumer
advertising.
It is possible that Bristol Myers recognizes
that consumers are becoming concerned about new
drugs being approved by the FDA and advertised
heavily, only to find out later that the drugs
have previously unknown and possibly dangerous
side effects. Consumers have learned that
advertising a drug as “new and improved”
doesn’t necessarily mean that it is new, or
improved, or even safe. In short, customers are
suspicious of pharmaceutical advertising, and
the drug companies are to be commended for
taking notice of that fact.
Since 1997, drug companies have been allowed
by U.S. law to advertise directly to consumers.
This has led to an astonishing number of ads on
television and radio, as consumers see ads
showing one happy person after another. The ads
suggest that the happiness shown is a result of
the use of the product, and a voiceover quickly
mumbles through the known, and sometimes
lengthy, list of side effects. Patients are
encouraged to speak with their doctor, and they
have been doing so in record numbers. The
problem, as Bristol Myers know realizes, is
that consumers are well aware that the
withdrawn Bextra and Vioxx were advertised as
being safe. This has naturally led to a general
suspicion of all advertised drugs, and Bristol
Myers correctly sees that they could be the
victims of a drug-company backlash, even if
they didn’t manufacture any of the withdrawn
products.
This will probably save Bristol Myers a lot of
money in the short term, as their advertising
would have largely gone to waste. The Food and
Drug Administration is taking steps to make
sure that the drugs that reach the U.S. market
are safe, and in time, the public will again
become more trusting of pharmaceutical
advertising. In the meantime, TV viewers will
be spared from having to watch the
sometimes-cryptic drug ads, which often prompt
questions of “What does this drug
do?”
About the
Author
©Copyright 2005 by
Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner
of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to
informational Websites, including
Bextra-Info.net, a site devoted to the
withdrawn drug
Bextra and
StructuredSettlementHelp.com, a site devoted to
structured settlements.
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