October 22, 2002
From the desk of Jane Galt:Is all pharma advertising bad?
Is all pharma advertising bad?
I just watched a commercial aimed at people who have been misdiagnosed with depression, but in fact are manic-depressive, urging them to reassess their condition.
As it happens, I know a couple of people who had just this sort of thing happen, and it can be dangerous -- the medicines prescribed for depression can make bipolar people worse, not better.
The commercial was sponsored by Lilly, which, unsurprisingly, has a medication for bipolar disorder. Sure, it promotes the company's self interest. On the other hand, it seems to me, it also promotes people with bipolar disorder getting correctly diagnosed and treated. I know physicians hate those Celebrex commercials which put hordes of people in their office demanding meds they don't need. On the other hand, my sympathy is limited by the fact that hordes of people demand (unadvertised) antibiotics they don't need, and physicians comply just to get them out of their office. Live by the sword. . .
Anyway, isn't this just the sort of advertising we'd want done under a nationalized health care system? And who'd pay for it then? It's not like the government will have any interest in spending a lot of money in order to encourage people to seek expensive mental health treatment.
Posted by Jane Galt at October 22, 2002 12:06 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound links