Direct to Consumer Pharmaceutical Advertising – Helpful or Harmful?

Abstract

While direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) has been legalized in the United States and New Zealand, the prescribed drug marketing has long reached other places in the world including the Asian regions. Behind the successful profit-making pharmaceutical companies, concerns about public health impacts to the patient and physician counterpart have grown. Evidences illustrated that DTCA increases the volume of prescribing amount through patient demand and that the traditional manner of drug prescribing action has changed. However, the quality of health care trade in the relationship between physician and patient often overlooked and compromised. The systematic review analysed eight studies from five identified search engines using PRISMA guidelines. This review findings demonstrate DTCA implication in term of the health literacy, economic impact and relationship between physician and patient. Physician expressed substantial degree of dissatisfying behaviour when challenged with unnecessary need to prescribe drugs demand by patient. The prominent involvement of policymakers in regulating the guideline and controlling delivery of information in any advertisement related to drugs is direly important.

Keywords

• direct-to-consumer advertising
• medical marketing
• pharmaceutical
• physician-patient relationship
• physician satisfaction