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Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription drugs is perhaps the most controversial form of pharmaceutical marketing in the U.S. Researchers from Pittsburgh gathered information on DTC advertising during the past decade.
Key findings were as follows:
Total spending on DTC advertising in the U.S. increased from about $1 billion in 1996 to $4 billion in 2005; DTC advertising represented about 14% of drug company promotional expenditures in 2005.
DTC advertising consumed about one third of the total marketing budgets for proton-pump inhibitors, statins, and erythropoietin in 2005. The five single drugs with the highest expenditures for DTC advertising were Nexium, Lunesta, Vytorin, Crestor, and Advair.
From 2002 to 2006, DTC advertising w…