The debate as to whether prescriptiondrugs should be subject to TV advertisements has long been rolling
on, though with the American Medical Association recently voting to
advocate the ban of such adverts, it seems one side of the debate may
just be gaining more traction.
The two sides of the debate are of
course highly nuanced, but broadly speaking they boil down thusly;
proponents of advertising say it allows a larger number of people to
receive healthcare for conditions they may have otherwise ignored or
felt too embarrassed to seek treatment for. Those against the idea
say that the cost of advertising drives up the cost of the medication
and the greater exposure leads to higher instances of misdiagnosis.
Somewhat unfortunately this isn’t an
issue with a beautifully toothsome black and white ‘right’
answer; I have to confess the fact that I can absolutely see where
both sides are coming from.
Ultimately though, I don’t believe
that outright banning something is ever the appropriate solution to
improving a situation. While I understand and agree with the argument
that increased advertising costs are likely going to be something
pharmaceutical companies are going to want to recoup through
increased pricing, I feel this is an issue that is better solved
through proper regulation rather than simply banning the whole
concept.
The fact is that I just don’t feel
babying the greater population and saying to them that they aren’t
smart enough to accurately decide for themselves whether or not an
advertisement is worth following up on is going to improve things.
There are always stories of mass hysteria and people believing
ridiculous things just because they have seen them on TV, but I just
have more faith in people than that and a few isolated incidents
should not affect the whole.
The more I think about this issue the
less in favour I grow of simply banning such advertisements. It seems
like doing so will only serve to take awareness and conversation
about important health issues further out of the public consciousness
when we really need to be doing what we can to increase their
presence.
I am however in favour of tighter and
properly enforced regulations that ensure pharmaceutical companies
aren’t allowed to overestimate intended effects of certain drugs in
order to push more people to buy them.
It seems to be that with proper
regulation you get to enjoy the benefits proposed by both sides of
the debate, whereas simply banning them altogether or allowing
pharmaceutical companies to advertise however they please will only
lead to more problems than solutions.
