By: Pat Daley
May 11 - The Working Group on Women and Health Protection is holding a press conference in Montreal today to get Diane out of bus shelters.
Diane is not a person. Diane is a birth control pill produced by Berlex Canada Inc. and currently marketed as a treatment for acne. Today's press conference is part of the Working Group's ongoing campaign to get Health Canada to crack down on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.
Spokesperson Anne Rochon Ford says there are two bus shelter ads. One shows a photo of a young woman with severe acne captioned "Meet Diane" with a 1-800 number for information. The second shows the same woman with clear skin and the caption, "Now meet Diane."
Earlier this week, the Working Group - representing more than 20 women's and consumer's groups across Canada - sent a letter to Health Minister Allan Rock reminding him that direct-to-consumer advertising is illegal in this country under the Food and Drugs Act. In that letter, the group was calling for an immediate halt to advertisements for Wyeth-Ayerst's contraceptive Alesse, running on Much Music, National Network Television, Cineplex Odeon, and on municipal transit in 15 cities.
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When we asked Nurse Valerie who was behind the overactive bladder ad, she admitted the service is sponsored by Pharmacia & Upjohn who market a prescription drug called Detrol, indicated for, you guessed it, "overactive bladder" |
"Pharmaceutical companies are pushing the limits on the actual technicalities of the law," says Rochon Ford, noting that they are not allowed to print the name of the product and its uses. In the Allesse case, the working group says, the ads make repeated use of words like "a lesson in" and "less" and images such as young women talking about sexual relationships with men and a photo of a 28-day pill dispenser.
Straight Goods decided to investigate another series of ads that has been running in daily newspapers on the problem of "overactive bladder" - not unlike ads that appeared recently with a checklist for symptoms of chronic depression. Besides a self-diagnosis survey, these new ads show only a 1-888 number for free information.
When Straight Goods called, we got a recording that said to press "1" to speak to a nurse in English. When we asked Nurse Valerie who was behind the ad, she said they just send out free information including a booklet on bladder control and a diary. Then she admitted the service is sponsored by Pharmacia & Upjohn who market a prescription drug called Detrol, indicated for, you guessed it, "overactive bladder." The booklet and diary are also available on the Detrol web site.
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It was hard this past winter to miss the stories about "superbugs" developing as doctors continued to prescribe vast quantities of antibiotics - often in response to patient demands |
Pharmaceutical companies will argue that direct-to-consumer advertising provides a public information service, says Rochon Ford. But the ads only give information on one product, she points out. "The bottom line is to sell one drug."
That point is driven home by a survey that was released in 1995 by U.S. market research firm The NPD Group. Direct-to-consumer advertising is legal in the United States, as well as in New Zealand. This survey of 175,000 American households showed that about one-quarter changed the way they treated their medical condition after being exposed to this advertising and 20 per cent said they did or were more likely to call or visit their doctor after seeing the ads.
An NPD press release says the ads "were also shown to change the way consumers interact with their doctors, causing a dramatic impact on a doctor's likelihood to prescribe a specific drug."
These are scary statistics for a country wrestling with medicare costs that are in part being driven up by rising drug costs. And it was hard this past winter to miss the stories about "superbugs" developing as doctors continued to prescribe vast quantities of antibiotics - often in response to patient demands.
On the other hand, it's welcome news for pharmaceutical companies. Spending on direct-to-consumer advertising in the U.S. totalled $1.5 billion from March 1998 to March 1999, showing a 16 per cent growth rate, according to IMS Health. The top 10 spenders were:
Claritin franchise ($243 million)
Propecia ($125 million)
Zyrtec ($81 million)
Zyban ($71 million)
Prilosec ($50 million)
Premarin ($50 million)
Detrol ($46 million)
Viagra ($45 million)
Zomig ($43 million)
Allegra ($43 million)
In a paper submitted to a Health Canada consultation workshop, the Working Group on Women and Health Protection outlined their concerns with this advertising, which they say is heavily targetted to women in the U.S.
The paper gives numerous examples of ads that the group says provide misleading information or - in the case of television - run information on negative side effects against jumbled audio tracks and distracting visuals.
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The Boston Globe reported that Eli Lilly and Co., manufacturer of Prozac, suppressed information showing that about one per cent of previously non-suicidal patients who took the antidepressant in early clinical trials developed akathisia, a severe agitation that can lead to suicide |
It also notes that because of the large audience and potential consumers, the advertising tends to concentrate on drugs for healthy people, such as disease prevention drugs, contraceptives and hormones. The group also expresses concern about the tendency for pharmaceutical companies to advertise new drugs before they have been circulated widely enough to detect potential problems.
The power of advertising is indisputable. And we know from hearing about people who demand antibiotics for the common cold, that consumers don't always make informed decisions.
If a recent report by the Boston Globe is correct, doctors don't always have all the information either. That paper reported that Eli Lilly and Co., manufacturer of Prozac, suppressed information showing that about one per cent of previously non-suicidal patients who took the antidepressant in early clinical trials developed akathisia, a severe agitation that can lead to suicide. The Globe cited researcher Dr. David Healy at the University of Wales, who said "probably 50,000 people have committed suicide on Prozac since its launch, over and above the number who would have done so if left untreated."
In the 12 months leading up to March 1999, spending on direct-to-consumer print advertising for Prozac totalled $25 million, according to IMS Health.
Pat Daley is a freelance writer and editor in Athlone in Simcoe County, Ontario.
Get More/Do More
What's your opinion on direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising?
Tell Straight Goods
For more on the reasons why Health Canada should continue the ban on direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising, visit the Working Group on Women and Health Protection at www.web.net/~desact. Click on Health Protection.
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