Advertising of Prescription Drugs

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To the Editor: Cohen (Feb. 11 issue)1 opposes direct-to-consumer prescription-drug ads, referring negatively to our earlier work.2 Our position is unchanged. Prices are likely to fall; statistical analyses in other industries show that ads lower consumer prices. Also, a decision to prescribe may be improved when an ad prompts a patient to volunteer information about himself or herself to the physician — information that might otherwise never be considered. An example: A man taking an antihypertensive drug experiences impotence and discontinues treatment without telling his physician. After seeing an ad for a product free of the side effect, the man . . .

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