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Don't be fooled by drug ads

Last updated: March 2009

One-fifth of our survey respondents have asked their doctor for a drug they saw advertised on television or elsewhere. And their doctors complied with the request nearly 70 percent of the time. But heavily advertised drugs usually aren't the most effective or safest. Instead, they're just the newest—and often the most expensive.

In 2008 drug makers spent roughly $5 billion advertising drugs to consumers, including Celebrex, Lunesta, Nexium, and Plavix. Those ads often minimize or omit important safety and side effect information and may prompt you to ask your doctor to prescribe drugs you don't need. Consumer Reports AdWatch tells you what the drug ads don't.

Drug manufacturers also try to directly influence doctors. They spend billions each year promoting prescription drugs to physicians—on everything from pads, pens, and posters to dinners and vacations. In many cases, manufacturers pay doctors handsome fees to serve as spokespersons. Those practices are among the top concerns consumers have about the pharmaceutical industry's influence on doctors, according to our survey. Sixty-eight percent agreed that drug companies have too much influence on the drugs doctors prescribe. And nearly half agree that doctors' prescribing practices are influenced by gifts from manufacturers to doctors.

Yet, paradoxically, consumers are very willing to receive free drug samples from their doctors: In fact, 80 percent said they had done so. But those samples are usually just another way to get consumers acquainted with newer and more expensive drugs, which may not be the best choice for a particular disorder. And when the freebies run out, the consumer pays.

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