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FDA survey puts positive spin on direct-to-consumer ads

Doctors agree that some DTC advertisements may do some good, but many still want more regulation and more oversight.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, amednews staff. Feb. 3, 2003.

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When Irwin Benuck, MD, PhD, a pediatrician at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, prescribes an allergy medicine to one of his young patients, he talks to the parents about how the child should take it, about the medicine's possible side effects and about butterflies.

"I say that's the medication with the butterfly flying around in the television ad, and they say they know all about that one." he said. "To some extent [this kind of advertising] increases patient awareness about certain therapies. ... On the other hand, we're always worried about overuse of certain medications and inappropriate use."

Dr. Benuck is like many physicians, according to a survey by the Food and Drug Administration Center for Drug Evaluation and Research: He has mixed feelings about direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.

According to preliminary findings from the survey of 250 generalists and 250 specialists, 41% said the fact that a patient saw an advertisement made for a better discussion about treatment. Additionally, 82% reported that seeing the advertisement did not cause problems in the patient-physician relationship. For the FDA, these numbers point to doctors' growing ambivalence -- surfacing after years of animosity -- about DTC advertising.

"Physicians think there are some good things and some bad things, but they're really middle of the road about the impact," said Kathryn Aikin, PhD, social science analyst in the FDA's division of drug marketing, advertising and communications. "It's getting physicians and patients to have better discussions about their health. But patients are perhaps not getting the details of the risks and side effects of the drug. [The ads] may make patients think that drugs work better than they actually do."