Europe reconsidering DTCA

Meek, Colin

doi:10.1503/cmaj.070483

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…2 3 Regulatory disputes continue worldwide, with ongoing debate about the introduction of direct to consumer advertising in the European Union and Canada; at the same time, the US Senate has recently considered legislation prohibiting such advertising during the first two years after the release of a new drug. [4][5][6] Although the debate includes a broad range of concerns, many assertions assume that direct to consumer advertising increases the use of particular types of drugs. For example, proponents argue that it increases use of effective treatments for undertreated conditions, such as depression.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of illicit direct to consumer advertising on use of etanercept, mometasone, and tegaserod in Canada: controlled longitudinal study

Law

Majumdar

Soumerai

2008

BMJ

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Objective To assess the impact of direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs in the United States on Canadian prescribing rates for three heavily marketed drugs—etanercept, mometasone, and tegaserod.Design Controlled quasi-experimental study using interrupted time series analysis.Population Representative sample of 2700 Canadian pharmacies and prescription data from 50 US Medicaid programmes.Main outcome measures Differences in number of filled prescriptions per 10 000 population per month between English speaking and French speaking (control) Canadian provinces before and after the start of direct to consumer advertising in the United States.Results Spending on direct to consumer advertising for study drugs ranged from $194m to $314m (£104m-£169m; €131m-€212m) over the study period. Prescription rates for etanercept and mometasone did not increase in English speaking provinces relative to French speaking controls after the start of direct to consumer advertising. In contrast, tegaserod prescriptions increased 42% (0.56 prescriptions/10 000 residents, 95% confidence interval 0.37 to 0.76) in English speaking provinces immediately after the start of US direct to consumer advertising. Uncontrolled analysis of US Medicaid data showed a larger 56% increase in tegaserod prescriptions. However, this increase did not persist over time in either country, despite continued advertising.Conclusions Exposure to US direct to consumer advertising transiently influenced both Canadian and US prescribing rates for tegaserod, a drug later withdrawn owing to safety concerns. The impact of direct to consumer advertising on drug use seems to be highly variable and probably depends on the characteristics of the advertised drug, the level of exposure to direct to consumer advertising, and the cultural context.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of illicit direct to consumer advertising on use of etanercept, mometasone, and tegaserod in Canada: controlled longitudinal study

Law

Majumdar

Soumerai

2008

BMJ

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“…Future longitudinal studies should examine other drugs and settings because many other countries are currently considering whether to permit DTCA. 41,42 Accepted for Publication: July…”

Section: Commentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Costs and Consequences of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Clopidogrel in Medicaid

Law

Soumerai²,

Adams³

et al. 2009

Arch Intern Med

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Direct-to-consumer advertising was not associated with an increase in clopidogrel use over and above preexisting trends. However, Medicaid pharmacy expenditures increased substantially after the initiation of DTCA because of a concomitant increase in the cost per unit. If drug price increases after DTCA initiation are common, there are important implications for payers and for policy makers in the United States and elsewhere.

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“…All other countries except for New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, Canada [2] ban this form of advertising; however, companies and their representatives have run campaigns to lift the ban. The ban has been upheld everywhere, most importantly in the European Union 15 years ago when 22 of the 27 member nations voted against liberalization [3][4][5]. For the past two decades, the question was raised whether the ban on DTCA for prescription drugs served the public's well-being or missed a chance to inform people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Test of the Beneficial Consequences of Lifting the Ban on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Prescription Drugs in Italy: Experimental Exposure and Questionnaire Study (Preprint)

Schulz,

Crosignani,

Petrocchi

2022

Preprint

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BACKGROUND There are only two countries in the world (the United States and New Zealand) that allow the pharmaceutical branch to advertise prescription medication directly to consumers. There is pressure on governments to allow direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for prescription drugs elsewhere too. One argument the industry uses frequently is the claim that exposure to DCTA, through various methods and occasions, is supposed to improve customers’ knowledge of a disease and treatment. This argument has been part of the health care community’s wider discussion of whether DTCA of prescription drugs benefits the population’s general interest or is only an attempt to increase the sales of the pharmaceutical branch. Belief in true learning by DTCA is rooted in concepts of empowered consumers and their autonomous and empowered decision-making. OBJECTIVE In this study, we tested the hypotheses that contact with DTCA increases recipients’ literacy/knowledge, especially regarding the side effects of treatment (hypothesis 1), and empowerment (hypothesis 2). We further hypothesized that DTCA exposure would not increase depression knowledge (ie, about treatments, symptoms, and prevalence) (hypothesis 3). METHODS A snowball sample of 180 participants was randomly split into three experimental groups receiving (1) a traditional information sheet, (2) a DTCA video clip for an antidepressant prescription drug, or (3) both. The video was original material from the United States translated into Italian for the experiment. Dependent variables were measures of depression knowledge (regarding treatments, symptoms and prevalence, and antidepressant side effects), depression literacy, and empowerment. RESULTS None of the experimental groups differed significantly from the others in the empowerment measure (hypothesis 2 not confirmed). Partial confirmation of hypothesis 1 was obtained. Lower values on the depression literacy scale were obtained when participants had been given the video compared to the sheet condition. However, the general depression knowledge and its subscale on side effects reached higher scores when participants were exposed to the DTCA, alone or in combination with the information sheet. Finally, participants showed lower scores on knowledge about treatment and symptoms or prevalence after watching the video compared to the sheet condition (hypothesis 3 confirmed). Symptoms and prevalence knowledge increased only when the video was presented in combination with the sheet. CONCLUSIONS There is no evidence for an increase in empowerment following DTCA exposure. An increase in knowledge of the side effects of the medication was observed in the group exposed to the DTCA video. This was the only result that confirmed the hypothesis of the beneficial effect of DTCA videos on knowledge. Written information proved to be the most suitable way to convey knowledge on treatments and symptoms prevalence. Our findings support the necessity of studying health literacy and patient empowerment together and the consequences of such an increase in knowledge in terms of help-seeking behavior.

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Europe reconsidering DTCA

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Effect of illicit direct to consumer advertising on use of etanercept, mometasone, and tegaserod in Canada: controlled longitudinal study

Effect of illicit direct to consumer advertising on use of etanercept, mometasone, and tegaserod in Canada: controlled longitudinal study

Costs and Consequences of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Clopidogrel in Medicaid

Critical Test of the Beneficial Consequences of Lifting the Ban on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising for Prescription Drugs in Italy: Experimental Exposure and Questionnaire Study (Preprint)

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