Imagine there was no DTC advertising because of a government ban. Let’s put aside the free speech issues for a moment and assume the courts supported a ban. Also let’s assume the health care system is similar to what we have now. That is, it is still a mix of private insurers, Medicare, Medicaid, with […]
Author Archive | Bob Ehrlich
DTC in Perspective: AMA Delegation Pushes for DTC Ads to Tell Price
Some state delegations are pushing the AMA to adopt a position to push drug makers to include the retail price in their ads. They feel full disclosure will inform consumers that some drugs are very expensive up front. The physicians pushing this idea feel drug makers will be held more accountable by the public if […]
DTC in Perspective: The Obamacare Reform Puzzle and DTC
First, I am now back writing my weekly column after taking a couple of months off to recharge my batteries. Happy to be back giving my thoughts on issues affecting our DTC community. As I was watching CNN discuss healthcare reform yesterday I was surprised to hear host Chris Cuomo say drug prices were the […]
DTC in Perspective: Thank You Mr. Pitts
No, the above is not a movie title. It is referring to an op-ed in the 4/17 Washington Examiner defending DTC by former FDA official Peter Pitts. The op-ed lays out the case why the attacks on DTC are flat out wrong or fake news as Mr. Pitts calls it in the title. Mr. Pitts […]
DTC in Perspective: The People of DTC
As I sat through the many DTC presentations last week at The DTC National Conference I took note of the people actually creating DTC. They all struck me as passionate about their products and their customers. While it is easy to be cynical about the drug companies as corporate entities it is harder when you […]
DTC in Perspective: The Healthcare Compromise We Need
The basic problem in American politics today is we are asked choose a side. Either we are supposed love Obamacare or hate it depending on our political affiliation. That we somehow must think Obamacare has been either a savior or villain is the fault of our self serving politicians. Both sides are equally to blame. […]
DTC in Perspective: The Power of Peers
We all know about patient support forums. I am sure most of us check one forum or another about a condition we or a loved one have. Only recently did I have an occasion to see how powerful patient to patient sites are in influencing treatment and thought about how important it is to integrate […]
DTC in Perspective: Nielsen Says Record 2016 DTC Spending
The final 2016 spending was released recently showing $5.66 billion versus $5.18 in 2015. DTC Perspectives has received some detail on these numbers and we ran some analysis explaining the growth. In 2014 spending was $4.33 billion so the last two years has seen growth of 31%. The 2016 number was a record and we […]
DTC in Perspective: Times of Turmoil Ahead
While we are seeing record $ 5.6 billion spending numbers for DTC for 2016, we are also seeing a populist tide raging against drug companies. At the upcoming DTC National a few weeks from now we will be spending a lot of time on the forces that may affect the health of DTC in the […]
DTC in Perspective: The DTC Hunters Are Active
Every year I seem to need to rebut a critic of DTC who proposes a ban. Google DTC advertising and every month there will be call for a ban in the media. These DTC Hunters think that by making it extinct great things will happen. First, they believe prices for drugs would drop dramatically if […]