More on DTC

Last month, I discussed the efficacy of sleeping pills and the use of advertising to sell Rozerem, a newer sleeping pill. I recently came across this report in the New England Journal of Medicine which examines the spending on Direct to Consumer (DTC)marketing of pharmaceuticals in its first decade. In 1996, Pharma spent 11.6 billion dollars on DTC marketing, which grew in 10 years to 29.9 billion dollars in 2005! I find this statistic ridiculous, that billions of dollars are being spent yearly and the costs of pharmaceuticals are rising as well. I can't see how this can be justified in our government. This article also mentions the steep decline in FDA advertising violation notification which went from 142 in 1997 to only 21 in 2006. Now of course I am sure that Pharma and ad agencies have honed their skills in the past decade to prevent breaking the rules, but I also feel the FDA may be too lax in regulating DTC marketing.
I continue to be shocked in finding information the costs of DTC advertising, and I feel strongly that some portions of the population are getting mixed messages. In trying to find more information on DTC marketing, I came across this info packet (http://www.rx-edge.com/Five_Strategies_for_DTC_Marketing_Success_in_the_Retail_Environment.pdf) from a marketing/advertising company. It is interesting to see some of their strategies and consider what you actually do see in a drugstore.