According to an article published today by Reuters the General Accountability Office published a report that the FDA needs to improve their monitoring of direct-to-consumer drug advertising. Specifically, the FDA should issue warning letters more quickly when misleading advertisements appear.

The GAO findings are based on an examination of 19 letters issued in 2004 and 2005 which took, on average, 8 months to send out. The GAO asserts that by the time the companies received the letters, most had already discontinued the ads. Additionally, the GAO found that even after the letters were received, some companies continued to break the rules on the same medications.

The GAO report found that the pharmaceutical industry spent 4.2 Billion dollars on DTC ads in 2005. This is almost double the amount spent in 1997. Breakdown of other spending includes 7.2 Billion dollars promoting directly to doctors and 31.4 Billion dollars spent on R&D.

pills1.jpgLogic would seem to suggest that if spending on DTC advertising continues to grow exponentially, monitoring will become even more difficult. There will simply be too much volume to keep up with given the current resources of the FDA. In fact, the FDA has tried to proffer this as an explanation for the lapses. According to the article, the GAO is standing firm that the FDA could do more.

What does this mean for the patient? It means that the patient is going to have to be more diligent in researching various treatments that are advertised to them. They may not be the panacea that they are made out to be on TV or in print ad. Additionally, physicians, nurses and healthcare providers are going to have to take time to explain why a certain treatment is preferred. Additionally, providers are also going to have to spend time managing expectations, especially if efficacy information is prettied up and side-effect facts are under emphasized.

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