Page 360 - Battleground The Media Volume 1 and 2

Pharmaceut cal Advert s ng |

system in the context of research/development, and impede research progress
on medical conditions that lack “blockbuster” treatments.

DoCTor, ThE CusTomEr is hErE To sEE you
Just as medications are seen less as chemical compounds than as consumer
products in the DTCA prism, patients are positioned as mass-market consum-
ers instead of as medical subjects. Close analysis of the discourses of the phar-
maceutical industry reveals a tendency to frame potential consumers as sources
of profit, rather than as individuals. This tendency can dehumanize individual
patients in favor of a more dispassionate economic discourse.
Internal industry publications and sources frequently refer to consumers
in terms of economic benefit, failing to acknowledge that real human suffer-
ing and varied personal experiences underlie each prescription. Consumers are

Brand naMes Versus generiC/oVer-the-Counter:
the eConoMiCs
One of the central debates in the study of DTCA is the promotion of brand-name medica-
tions that have equally effective, and, oftentimes, less expensive generic or over-the-counter
equivalents.

Example 1
The acid-reflux/heartburn medication Nexium, and its over-the-counter counterpart,
Prilosec, are virtually equal in terms of effectiveness. However, in the wake of a massive
marketing campaign to promote Nexium, it has become one of the top-ten best-selling
medications in the United States, garnering nearly $3 billion in yearly sales.

Example 2
A 1999 medical study revealed that neither heavily advertised Vioxx nor Celebrex “allevi-
ated pain any better than the older medicines” (Berensen et al. 2004). Despite this finding,
Vioxx’s 2003 sales topped $2.5 billion and comprised 11 percent of Merck’s total revenue
that year (“Costs of Recall Hurt Merck’s Results; Lilly’s Profit Is Up,” 2004). In contrast, the
over-the-counter pain relievers referenced in the study cost pennies a dose.

Example 3

The allergy market has been fundamentally transformed by DTCA campaigns for pre-
scription antihistamines. Formerly dominated by over-the-counter remedies, now 53 per-
cent of allergy sufferers buy prescription products (Aitken and Holt 2000, p. 82). One large
health management organization (HMO) estimated that it spent “$20 million dollars paying
for costly, heavily advertised, non-sedating antihistamines when generics would have suf-
ficed” (West 1999).