• Skip to main content
Search
  • Home
  • Services
      • Behavioral Health
      • Bloodless Medicine
      • Brain & Spine
      • Cancer Care
      • Ear, Nose and Throat
      • Emergency Care
      • Senior Health
      • Heart & Vascular Care
      • Home Health Care
      • Immediate Care
      • Medical Imaging
      • Minimally Invasive Surgery
      • Orthopedics
      • Pregnancy & Childbirth
      • Primary Care
      • Rehabilitation Services
      • Weight Loss Surgery
      • Wound Healing & Care
      • Women's Health
  • Doctors
      • Find a Primary Care Doctor
      • Find a Doctor
      • Physician Referral
      • Practices:

        Baptist Primary Care
      • Baptist AgeWell
      • Baptist Behavioral Health
      • Baptist Endocrinology
      • Baptist ENT Specialists
      • Baptist Heart Specialists
      • Baptist Infectious Diseases
      • Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Physicians
      • Baptist Neurology
      • Baptist Pediatrics
      • Baptist Pulmonary Specialists (Nassau)
      • Baptist Rheumatology
      • Baptist Urology Group (Nassau)
      • Jacksonville Orthopaedic Institute
      • Lyerly Neurosurgery
  • Locations
    • Our Hospitals:

      • Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville
      • Baptist Medical Center South
      • Baptist Medical Center Beaches
      • Baptist Medical Center Nassau
      • Baptist Heart Hospital
      • Wolfson Children's Hospital

      Emergency Rooms (ER):

      • All ER Locations

      Imaging:

      • By Location

      • Imaging Center Locations
      • By Service

      • MRI
      • Bone Density
      • Screening Mammography
      • Diagnostic Mammography
      • Ultrasound
      • Vascular Ultrasound
      • CT Scan
      • PET Scan
      • Nuclear Medicine
      • X-Ray

      Urgent Care Locations:

      • Baptist Health Clinics at Walgreens
      • CareSpot Urgent Care

      Outpatient Locations:

      • AgeWell Center for Senior Health
      • Baptist Clay Medical Campus
      • Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center
      • Baptist Neurodiagnostic Center
      • Baptist North Medical Campus
      • Heart and Vascular Testing Centers
      • Hill Breast Center
      • Infusion Center
      • Pharmacy
      • Rehabilitation Centers
      • Robotic Spine Surgery
      • Sleep Centers
      • Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center
      • Surgery Centers
      • Wound Care

      Health & Wellness:

      • 4her Wellness Resources for Women
      • JCA Wellness Connexion
      • Y Healthy Living Centers
  • Patient Info
      • Billing & Insurance Information
      • Insurance Plans Accepted
      • Cost Estimate Request
      • Financial Assistance Program
      • My Baptist Connect (Patient Portal)
      • Medical Records
      • Classes and Events
      • Clinical Trials
      • Tell Us What You Think
  • Health Library
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Symptoms
      • Tests
      • Surgeries and Procedures
      • Injuries
      • Nutrition
      • Poison
      • Drug Information
      • Drug Images
      • Health News
      • Video Library
  • About Us
      • Administration
      • Awards & Honors
      • Careers
      • Provider Opportunities
      • Baptist MD Anderson Provider Opportunities
      • Spiritual Care
      • Social Responsibility
      • Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)
      • Corporate Wellness (PATH)
      • Volunteering
      • Newsroom
  • Juice
      • Health News Overview:

      • Aging Well
      • Brain, Spine & Nerve
      • Cancer
      • Child Health
      • Community Health
      • Diabetes
      • Ear, Nose & Throat
      • Heart & Vascular
      • Lungs, Breathing & Sleep
      • Mental Health
      • Orthopedics, Bones & Muscles
      • Pregnancy & Childbirth
      • Primary Care
      • Wellness
      • Women's Health
      • Men's Health
  1. Home
  2. Health Library
  3. Health News
  4. As Medical Marketing Soars, Is Regulation Needed?

As Medical Marketing Soars, Is Regulation Needed?

TUESDAY, Jan. 8, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Turn on prime-time TV and you'll likely see a pitch for arthritis or impotence pills, and maybe a cancer center. Advertisers spent nearly $10 billion marketing prescription drugs and medical services to the American public in 2016 -- five times what they doled out 20 years earlier, a new study finds.

Experts said the results raise questions about the influence of advertising over how Americans see their health and make health-care decisions.

The study analyzed trends in "medical marketing" between 1997 and 2016, looking at TV and digital advertising, social media and more.

Medical marketing includes ads directed to consumers: Many are for prescription drugs, but others tout treatments, tests and various services offered by hospitals, clinics and other health providers. It also includes marketing to doctors by drug companies and lab test manufacturers.

In 2016, the study found, those advertisers spent almost $30 billion marketing to professionals and the public. That was up two-thirds from 1997, when the figure stood at $17.7 billion.

And while companies still devote more money to courting providers, spending on consumer ads rose at a much greater rate -- from $2.1 billion in 1997, to $9.6 billion in 2016. The findings were published Jan. 8 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"It's an impressive amount of money -- and it's because companies know it works," said study co-author Dr. Steven Woloshin, a professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.

The problem, said Woloshin, is that by nature, ads tell consumers that the product is "good." Prescription drug ads mention side effects -- in a quick voiceover in a TV commercial, for instance -- but they do not quantify the benefits versus risks.

"People don't realize that even though a drug is approved by the [U.S.] Food and Drug Administration, it may only be marginally effective," Woloshin said.

Nor do ads mention the alternatives for treating a particular condition -- which may be cheaper or drug-free, he noted.

"That's not to say that marketing is always bad," Woloshin pointed out.

It may help lift the "stigma" attached to conditions like HIV or depression, he said, or help people get appropriate tests or treatments.

There's a flip side, though: overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

Woloshin mentioned a study where researchers had actors go to primary care doctors portraying symptoms of either major depression or adjustment disorder. Some specifically asked for an antidepressant, citing something they'd seen on TV.

The result: People who asked for medication were more likely to get it, even when they did not report depression symptoms.

"Marketing can have benefits, but also harms," Woloshin said. "That's why we need strong regulation."

However, the study found little evidence that regulation has kept pace with the explosion in marketing. According to Woloshin, the FDA has taken some action in recent years -- to curtail marketing of unapproved genetic tests that promise to reveal your risks of developing various diseases.

But the public might be surprised by how little regulatory oversight there is, said Meredith Rosenthal, a professor of health economics at the Harvard School of Public Health.

"Don't assume an ad has been reviewed and blessed by the FDA," said Rosenthal, co-author of an editorial published with the study.

The FDA can act when an ad's content violates law, she noted. But it does not put a stamp of approval on every ad.

In theory, Rosenthal said, doctors are the "bulwark," steering patients away from inappropriate treatments, even if they demand them. But, she noted, doctors are targeted by marketers, too, or may advertise services themselves.

Plus, Woloshin said, even when doctors try to convince patients that lifestyle changes, for example, are a better option, they can end up fighting a losing battle.

For now, he and Rosenthal suggested the public regard medical ads with a healthy dose of skepticism.

That includes "disease awareness campaigns," which are often funded by drug companies, Woloshin said.

Again, Woloshin said, that kind of marketing can have benefits, but also harms when campaigns try to expand a disease definition and "medicalize" normal experience. He cited "low testosterone" as one example.

"Some people say we should ban [medical marketing]," Woloshin said. "But that's not going to happen, because of the First Amendment. What we need is stronger regulation."

More information

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has a guide for consumers on prescription drug advertising.

SOURCES: Steven Woloshin, M.D., professor, Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, N.H.; Meredith Rosenthal, Ph.D., professor, health economics and policy, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston; Jan. 8, 2019, Journal of the American Medical Association

Daily Health and Medical News

  • Babies May 'See' Light While in the Womb
    December 03, 2019

  • Uncontrolled Asthma a Danger to Pregnant Women, Babies
    December 03, 2019

  • Are E-Scooters a Quick Ticket to the ER?
    December 03, 2019

  • Taking Several Prescription Drugs May Trigger Serious Side Effects
    December 03, 2019

  • AHA News: Vegan Diet May Decrease Heart Disease, Stroke Risk in African Americans
    December 03, 2019

© Copyright 2019 | All Rights Reserved

If you speak another language, assistance services
free of charge, are available to you.

Baptist Health Facebook Baptist Health Twitter Baptist Health on LinkedIn Baptist Health on Instagram Baptist Health on Youtube
Physician Login | Application Login | Employee Login
Quality Measures | Privacy | Non-Discrimination | Comments | Site Map