Pharmaceutical houses spent $1.5 billion to advertise and promote ten psychiatric medicines in 2005 according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. Prescriptions for psychotropic drugs grew faster than for other medicines, and overall direct-to-consumer advertising rose 330 percent in ten years. The impact of advertising on costs was not confirmed, although cost becomes important for people enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare. The Los Angeles Times reports about 20 percent of seniors enrolled in Medicare skipped their medicine because of expense. Following publication of the New England Journal article, the FDA announced it will study the impact of television drug advertisements, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
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by Phyllis Vine
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