title: An assessment of direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.
abstract: Advertising is widely seen by economists and regulators as beneficial to markets and consumers. The prescription drug market offers exceptional opportunities for direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) to provide new-product information, improve compliance, alleviate widespread underdiagnosis and undertreatment, and motivate new-product development.5 DTCA can also induce excess or even dangerous prescribing, however, partly because patients are poorly informed and usually pay far less than the full cost of drugs. Empirical research can help resolve these issues.
authors.affiliation: American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC, USA. jcalfee@aei.org
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Calfee
mesh_terms: D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000191:economics; D004346:Drug Information Services / Q000191:economics; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000191:economics; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000191:economics; D008402:Mass Media; D017059:Models, Econometric; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010565:Persuasive Communication; D010819:Physician's Role; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D018570:Risk Assessment