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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
I was shocked to see media stories saying DTC may expand to cover off label use. What! This erroneous idea came from an FDA open meeting held 11/16 to discuss off label use based on court cases allowing drug companies the right to discuss them. FDA has been under pressure on first amendment grounds to […]
Merck’s cancer drug Keytruda recently began its DTC campaign competing with Bristol Myers’ Opdivo. What is significant is that highly targeted drug categories continue to invest heavily in DTC. Keytruda is a biologic injection that has indications for non small cell lung cancer, advanced melanoma and head and neck cancer. The market is small by […]
