GUEST COMMENTARY

In September 2003 I was an associate commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration and served as a panelist at a two-day public hearing on pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising.

Last week, no longer a senior government official, I testified in front of my former colleagues on the same subject. According to research presented by academics from such places as Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic and from consumer advocates such as the National Consumers League, DTC advertising is, indeed, advancing America's health – most specifically by getting more people to visit their doctors.

Properly done, pharmaceutical advertising helps to de-stigmatize certain diseases and encourages people to talk with their doctors about problems previously considered taboo -- like depression. Other research demonstrated little or no correlation between a brand's DTC spending and it's cost. In other words, brands that spend more heavily on DTC advertising do not necessarily cost more than their less-advertised competition.

FDA research, of patients who visited their doctors because of an ad they saw, and who asked about that prescription drug by brand name, 87 percent actually had the condition the drug treats. And in 6 percent of those DTC-generated visits, a previously undiagnosed condition was discovered.

Why is that so important? Because earlier detection combined with appropriate treatment means that more people will live longer, healthier, more productive lives without having to confront riskier, more costly medical interventions later on.

Only 7 percent of doctors said they felt "very pressured to prescribe" a particular advertised drug. When the FDA panel probed into the question of "pressure to prescribe," what we found out was that the real pressure was time pressure. More patients are coming in armed with more questions.

According to the FDA study, a majority of doctors feel that DTC advertising increases patient awareness and involvement, improves compliance, and enhances the overall doctor-patient relationship. But we can - we must - do better. Health care information is the consumer's Rosetta Stone, and the FDA, public policy institutes, pharmaceutical firms, communications professionals, health care providers, disease organizations, patient advocates, academics along with state and federal legislators must help design 21st century DTC advertising that not only helps to sell product, but also advances the public health.