Why do pharmaceuticals advertise directly to patients? whatever happened to your D.R making the diagnosis?

advair, sigular, ect..
why are they advertisting to us?

They want to create awareness and demand for the medication, so the patients will request them from their doctors.

I work at a medical clinic, and the doctors don't like it at all. Some people decide from a commercial that they want a certain medication, but it's not appropriate for them. The doctor has a hard time convincing them that they shouldn't take it. This takes up a lot of the doc's time these days!

These are my same thoughts. I believe they should save the advertisements for medical books and lower the price of medication. It has to cost a fortune to advertise.

Pharmaceutical companies are going around the physicians to the patients (consumers) to pitch their product because the patient will then put pressure on his/her Dr. to prescribe the specific drug. It is called "direct to consumer marketing". Large laboratories do this as well.
Marsha

Because the federal government began allowing it a few years ago.

One catch - if you mention the benefits you must mention the side effects.

So if you see a commercial for a prescription drug and they just repeat the name and say things like "ask your doctor if it's right for you" but never say what the hell it's for that's a dead giveaway that the side effects are absolutely nasty, so nasty that they know no one would want it if they heard the side effects a few times.

Another warning. People think that if a new drug is marketed that means it is better than other drugs already on the market. Not necessarily! Before they can say it helps with a problem they must prove that, but they needn't prove it is better than other alternatives already available. Similarly being prescription versus over-the-counter is not an indication of being more effective, nor is being more expensive.

to get our over medicated, anxious population riled up and pestering their physicians with their over- zealous self-diagnoses

(thought the industry would say its to encourage consumer information-seeking and knowledge of symptoms/conditions/treatment that wld then improve patient-physician communication)

I've wondered that my self. Irritating isn't it? The docs. all ready got the medications in the office,courtesy of the drug companies. But If you mention the drug to them , they are more apt to let you try them and see how you do on them. It's a little extra push by you and me to help sell their product. And remember, doctors watch t.v. too.