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Consumer Reports AdWatch

Last updated: April 2012

Consumers are besieged daily by ads for prescription drugs, all beseeching you to "ask your doctor" for a given brand-name drug for an ailment that you might, or might not, actually have. Those ads don't always tell the whole story. They might, for example, play down or omit information about nondrug options, or imply that a drug works wonders for everyone when in reality it works only marginally better than a placebo. That's why we started the Consumer Reports AdWatch series. Our video commentaries on a sampling of direct-to-consumer drug ads are designed to give you the facts that the commercials leave out, so that you can be better informed when making health decisions. We hope that they're fun, too:

Direct to consumer (DTC) drug advertising is big business for a good reason--it works. In 2007 alone, drug companies spent $5,375,117,382 on advertising. Yes, that's $5.375 billion dollars. The chart below highlights 25 of the biggest spenders along with their sales, giving an indication of how much their ad spending has paid off (or not, in the case of Rozerem):

Drug	Approved for	DTC advertising 2008	Retail sales 2008	Sales per DTC ad dollar spent
Advair diskus	Asthma	$172,974,000	$3,572,473,000	$20.65
Plavix	Heart attack/stroke risk reduction	$169,780,000	$3,796,221,000	$22.36
Cymbalta	Depression, anxiety, diabetic neuropathy	$156,733,000	$2,170,162,000	$13.85
Ambien CR	Insomnia	$154,602,000	$865,719,000	$5.60
Abilify	Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression	$152,440,000	$2,371,795,000	$15.56
Cialis	Erectile dysfunction	$141,834,000	$555,080,000	$3.91
Lyrica	Fibromyalgia, seizures	$141,369,000	$1,389,205,000	$9.83
Viagra	Erectile dysfunction	$122,487,000	$920,051,000	$7.51
Flomax	Enlarged prostate	$115,581,000	$1,236,963,000	$10.70
Lunesta	Insomnia	$108,874,000	$771,019,000	$7.08
Crestor	High cholesterol	$106,904,000	$1,676,553,000	$15.68
Symbicort	Asthma	$99,336,000	$237,955,000	$2.40
Lipitor	High cholesterol	$98,357,000	$5,880,128,000	$59.78
Valtrex	Shingles and cold sores	$91,984,000	$1,684,192,000	$18.31
Nasonex	Seasonal allergies	$91,787,000	$904,074,000	$9.85
Evista	Osteoporosis	$90,082,000	$499,924,000	$5.55
Boniva	Osteoporosis	$84,444,000	$512,179,000	$6.07
Chantix¹	Smoking cessation	$83,967,000	$605,323,000	$7.21
Reclast	Osteoporosis	$80,503,000	4,966,000	$0.06
Spiriva	Asthma	$75,750,000	$1,142,746,000	$15.09
Caduet	High blood pressure and cholesterol	$73,154,000	389,966,000	$5.33
Januvia	Type 2 diabetes	$71,163,000	$913,501,000	$12.84
Singulair	Asthma and seasonal allergies	$70,866,000	$2,898,060,000	$40.89
Enbrel	Rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis	$70,480,000	$763,927,000	$10.84
Avodart	Enlarged prostate	$69,762,000	$364,706,000	$5.23

1. Ads were for MyTimeToQuit.com, a Pfizer Web site that invites visitors to learn about a prescription treatment option for quitting smoking. Those who click this link are then directed to the Web site for Chantix, Pfizer’s smoking-cessation drug.