title: DTC advertising harms patients and should be tightly regulated.
abstract: Like all interventions in health care, direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising should be evaluated by comparing its risks to its benefits, in the context of the available or potentially available alternatives. The objective, of course, is to realize any unique benefits while minimizing the risks. On balance, the adverse effects of DTC advertising outweigh the still-undemonstrated benefits of the advertising.
authors.affiliation: Health Research Group, Public Citizen, Washington, D.C., USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lurie
mesh_terms: D000329:Advertising / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D003254:Consumer Advocacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004335:Drug and Narcotic Control; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States; D014486:United States Food and Drug Administration