Drug Companies Advertise and Americans Listen

By Peggy Peck
BOSTON, March 6 -- Direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs has had a major impact on how patients deal with their doctors, confirmed a nationally representative a survey of American adults.
The survey found that 91% of the patients said they have heard or seen the ads, and 32% said they discussed the advertised drugs with their doctors.
And physicians apparently listened to what patients were saying, the survey found. Forty-four percent of those who talked to their doctors about an advertised drug were given a prescription for that drug, and 54% said their doctor gave them another prescription. The net result: 82% said they received a prescription when they brought up a drug ad.
The survey, which was conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health, Kaiser Family Foundation, and USA Today, also found that 80% of Americans think prescription drugs cost too much and 16% said paying for prescription drugs was a serious problem.
Not surprisingly, 52% of those who said they had difficulty paying for prescription drugs, or sometimes didn't fill prescriptions because of the cost, or cut pills in half to stretch out supplies, said they didn't have prescription drug insurance coverage. Likewise 54% of low-income people and 59% of people who said they took at least four prescription drugs regularly had the same complaint.
The nationally representative telephone survey was conducted between Jan. 3 and Jan. 23 among 1,695 adults ages 18 and older, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Seven in every 10 adults surveyed said pharmaceutical companies were "too concerned about making profits and not concerned enough about helping people," according to a press release issued by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Other findings:
Nearly 60% said insurers should only pay for new drugs that are safe and more effective than existing ones.
78% said they thought drugs sold in the U.S. were safe --although only about 25% said they were very confident that drugs were safe.
47% said FDA regulations were adequate to ensure safety, but 44% said there should be more regulation, and 8% said there should be less regulation.
About half of Americans said the pharmaceutical industry had the right level of input into the drug approval process, and close to 40% said industry had too much influence on the process.
52% said government moved too slowly on drug approvals.
Overall, the public has mixed opinions of pharmaceutical companies, with 47% viewing the industry favorably and 44% unfavorably. Drug companies are viewed slightly more favorably than health insurers (40% favorable), but significantly less than doctors (81% favorable).