No Clear Benefit Predicted From an Extended Moratorium on Direct-to-Consumer Advertising
Since the late 1990’s, when FDA released guidelines clarifying the rules for direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, such advertising has been an important part of the marketing strategy for newly approved drugs, particularly ones that treat common conditions affecting large patient populations. Lawmakers have been wary of the practice, concerned that it might lead to higher drug prices, or that it might expand the use of a drug for a condition for which it provides little benefit and expose patients to unnecessary risks. In 2007, an Institute of Medicine committee recommended that FDA prohibit manufacturers from advertising to consumers for two years following approval of a new drug. Several bills calling for a moratorium on DTC advertising have been introduced in Congress over the past few years, but none have been adopted. Read more »
A recent market analysis by IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics projects that the global pharmaceutical industry will reach nearly $1.1 trillion by 2015. As the pharmaceutical industry is poised to cross this historic threshold, what might we expect to see in terms of the near-term and future composition of the pharmaceutical market? 