Direct-to-Patient Advertisements May Do More Than Increase Sales

This study of antihistamines suggests that advertising influences efficacy.

Many elements enhance placebo response, including belief in the brand-name, cost, and pill color. Can direct-to-patient advertising enhance efficacy in addition to sales? This study examined an objectively measured physiologic effect (histamine skin response) after exposure to advertisements for the nonsedating antihistamines Claritin (loratadine) and Zyrtec (cetirizine) in 340 subjects, half of whom had a positive skin test to at least one common allergen.

Participants watched a movie with timed advertisements for one of the drugs. (Zyrtec was advertised as working 2 hours faster than Claritin.) Claritin (10 mg) was openly administered at the start of the movie. A histamine challenge test was performed at baseline before Claritin ingestion …

Reviewing Author

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesNorth American Brain Injury Association (Board Member); National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (Chair of Data Monitoring Safety Board for study of donepezil on cognition after traumatic brain injury)

Jonathan Silver, MD

Disclosures

RoyaltiesTextbook of Traumatic Brain Injury, 2nd and 3rd editions

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience

Direct-to-Patient Advertisements May Do More Than Increase Sales

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Reviewing Author