Suzy’s Blog

Accirding to UPI, the Prescription Access Litigation Project (PAL), an organization dedicated to keeping prescription drugs affordable, announced the second winners of its “Bitter Pill Awards.”

The Awards began last year and were designed to highlight the overly aggressive marketing of medicines and pharmaceutical products.
“Drug ads expand the market for newer drugs far beyond those patients that actually need them, interfere with the doctor-patient relationship, and perpetuate the myth that ‘there’s a pill for every ill’ and that ‘newer is better,’” said a statement released by PAL, which is a coalition of 118 local, state and national consumer health advocacy groups.

The five award winners were Lunesta, a sleeping pill made by Sepracor Inc.; Lipitor, Pfizer Inc.’s treatment designed to lower cholesterol; Ambien, a sleeping tablet made by Sanofi-Aventis; Strattera, an ADHD treatment manufactured by Eli Lilly and Co.; and Crestor, a cholesterol drug made by AstraZeneca Plc.

I don’t watch a great deal of television, so when I do it’s a complete shock to me to see the number of drug ads.  When I was growing up, drugs used to be limited to hemmerhoid creams, analgesics and anti-histamines.  Now, for some program, prescription drugs occupy 90% of the advertising slots.  Many times the ads don’t even tell you what the drug is supposed to do, just that it will make you better.  And then there’s the rush of complications – headaches, diarrhea, insomnia.  I’m particularly amused by the four hour erection – I can’t imagine someone presenting themselves at an emergency room complaining of an unstoppable erection.  There have been recent reports that parents have been giving some of these prescription drugs to children – without their doctor’s advice or approval, and with some very bad results.  I would personally like to see prescription drugs put back into the realm of a discussion between a doctor and his/her patient and banned – like cigarettes – from television.