The Rise in Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Prescription Drugs
Throughout her research, Jenny Markell, BA, has uncovered some alarming trends within prescription drug advertising in the US.
From the marketing of drugs with low-added benefit to manufacturers’ inability to follow FDA guidelines, direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs has increased in the US and is beginning to raise alarms.
“Under FDA guidelines, pharmaceutical companies are supposed to provide a balanced view of drugs in advertising in terms of their risks and benefits,” said Jenny Markell, BA, PhD Candidate of Health and Public Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “They're supposed to avoid any misleading information. It's illegal, for example, to overstate a drug’s benefits, misrepresent data from studies, or make claims that are not supported by adequate evidence.”
However, even after FDA attempts of holding manufacturers accountable, drug companies continue to skew the country’s perceptions of specific prescription drugs.
Markell recently sat down with Drug Topics to discuss her research on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. Aside from her academic research, Markell has published 2 articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association exploring various issues within drug advertising.1,2
On the latest episode of Over the Counter, she shared her insights into how drug companies are marketing their products, common trends seen in some of the more notable drug classes, and what it all means for patients going forward. Markell helped us assess where drug advertising in the US exists now and where it might be headed in the future.
Stay tuned for weekly podcast episodes on Over the Counter every Thursday afternoon. Check out our previous episode with Diana Isaacs, PharmD, BCPS, BCACP, BC-ADM, CDCES, diabetes counselor and educator with years of experience working with GLP-1 medications. She discussed the sheer increase in GLP-1 use as well as the pharmacists’ role in counseling patients on the use of these medications.
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