American Medical Association recommends ban of drug ads to consumers

The American Medical Association called for a ban on Tuesday on the practice of advertising drugs directly to consumers, a practice they say has driven up prices and led to more demand for them to be used in inappropriate circumstances.

"Today's vote in support of an advertising ban reflects concerns among physicians about the negative impact of commercially-driven promotions, and the role that marketing costs play in fuelling escalating drug prices," the AMA's chair-elect Patrice A. Harris said. 

Currently, the United States and New Zealand are the only two countries in the world that allow direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs. In Canada and elsewhere, drug companies are forbidden from naming a product and implying what it is used for in their advertising campaigns, but critics say the law has many loopholes.

The AMA's statement Tuesday is a departure from its previous position, which was that there's nothing wrong with advertising pharmaceuticals as long as the information in the ad is accurate and not misleading.

The AMA says the drug industry has spent $4.5 billion US over the past two years advertising its products, an increase of 30 per cent. That's filtering down to prices where companies are recouping those costs. According to a recent report, the average price of a generic or brand-name drug rose by 4.7 per cent this year.

Other extreme cases have seen the price of rare yet vital drugs increase exponentially.

Increased advertising budgets are doing nothing to stop this practice and may represent a public health risk. "In a worst-case scenario, patients forego necessary treatments when drugs are too expensive," Harris said.

"Direct-to-consumer advertising also inflates demand for new and more expensive drugs, even when these drugs may not be appropriate," Harris said.

The pharmaceutical industry disagrees with the move, noting that direct-to-consumer ads aim to provide "scientifically accurate information to patients so that they are better informed about their health care and treatment options," said Trish Stow of the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

The ads also encourage patients to visit their doctors' offices "for important doctor-patient conversations about health that might otherwise not take place," Stow said.