The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7201 p793-795
8 June 2002

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Consumers' Association: Direct to Consumer advertising (more)

Consumers concerned about drug advertising

Consumers believe that pharmaceutical companies would produce biased information if they were allowed to advertise their prescription only medicines to the public.

In a survey carried out by the Consumers' Association, consumers were asked whether they agreed or disagreed with different statements about what might happen if direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising was allowed. Four-fifths agreed that pharmaceutical companies would spend the most money on advertising products that would give them the most profit, 63 per cent that companies would not give full information about side effects and 59 per cent that patients would be persuaded to think they had illnesses that they did not have.

However, 60 per cent agreed that DTC advertising would raise awareness of diseases and 53 per cent that it would lead patients to seek treatment more quickly.

Respondents to the survey were also asked how trustworthy they felt different sources of information about medicines were. General practitioners, hospital doctors and pharmacists were rated as trustworthy by 91, 88 and 87 per cent, respectively. After this came NHS Direct (55 per cent) and then patient groups (37 per cent), internet sites (36 per cent) and pharmaceutical companies (32 per cent).