Prescription Drug Advertising

Research shows that the United States is five percent of the world’s population and consumes 75 percent of the prescription drug supply (West's Encyclopedia of American Law). In 2012 the United States pharmaceutical industry spent $3.1 billion on advertising prescription drugs directly to consumers while making $300 billion (ProCon.org). Advertising influences many consumers to purchase products that they see, but many believe that companies should not be able to advertise drugs directly to consumers. Companies that produce prescription drugs should be able to advertise their products to consumers such as other companies do, because it is the consumer's choice to buy the drugs, the Food and Drug Administration forces the ads to educate consumers …show more content…
However this does not take away from the fact that prescription drug abuse is a major problem in America; with 52 million Americans over the age of 12 admitting to using prescription drugs non-medically in their lifetime (West's Encyclopedia of American Law). The large prescription drug abuse problem is continued by people sharing medications or an addict stealing them, which is not influenced by prescription drug advertisements. In a study 63 percent% of physicians surveyed in April 2013 believed that direct-to-consumer prescription drug ads misinformed patients, but legally they did not break any laws (ProCon.org). The FDA limits the companies to listing the drug’s name and main purpose while forcing them to name only the major side effects (ProCon.org), which is why the pharmacists get the impression of consumers being misinformed, but it should be upon the consumer to further their knowledge on the product before purchasing it. The first of banning direct-to-consumer advertisements was in the 1980s, because during that time drug companies gave information to consumers around the knowledge of a doctor and it resulted in consumers receiving drugs they medically did not need (National Institute on Drug Abuse). At that time many companies sold drugs to consumers …show more content…
The 1994 infamous Hot Coffee lawsuit against McDonald's was the first major battle over caps on damages and tort reform (HG Legal Resources). The case was a dispute over if McDonald’s was legally required to pay for a woman’s medical bills after she spilled coffee on her lap that was not meeting the standard temperature requirements. Tort reform focuses on cases that have grown too large or initiated over liability against a company for an accident that occurred (HG Legal Resources). When there are lawsuits over liability against large companies it is typically the consumers advantage to acquire larger damages from the case, because it is easy to find a jury that believes a large company should help an injured consumer. For advertising prescription medications it is a major conflict over liability of how the company presents the product in an advertisement; since it has to inform the consumer enough to not be held responsible for negligence, breach of warranty, misrepresentation and strict tort reform against