Pfizer Public Policy: Advertising and Promotion

"Ignorance is bliss"—or so the saying goes—but when it comes to patients´ health and their ability to make well-informed health decisions, it's hard to argue that less information is better.

Pfizer believes that patients benefit from information about diseases and medical treatment options because when they learn about symptoms and therapies, they can engage in a more informed discussion with their health care provider. One way that disease and treatment information is made available is through advertising. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of pharmaceuticals affords Pfizer the opportunity to inform patients about diseases and about particular treatment options.

Key Points

• DTC advertising has significant, proven value to consumers in helping them to identify disease conditions and engage in more informed conversations with their health care providers.
• By helping patients identify problems early, DTC advertising can prevent unnecessary patient suffering and the need for high-cost acute-care medical interventions that result from untreated conditions.
• Pharmaceutical companies spend much more on research and development than they do on advertising and promotion of drugs.
• DTC advertising is strictly regulated by the FDA and must contain approved language describing product risks.
• Pfizer recently announced improvements to our DTC advertisements that strengthen their educational benefits. These improvements include increased information about the benefits and risks of our medications, and information about our prescription drug access programs, among other changes.

In order for patients to make good decisions about their health, they need access to health information. An overwhelming majority (91%) of consumers want to know as much as they can about their health conditions and how to treat them.¹ DTC advertising contributes to the public health by bringing important health information to patients and encouraging them to discuss their health with their health care providers.

A key health problem that we are facing right now in the U.S. is underdiagnosis and undertreatment of serious health conditions. DTC has been an important way to reach patients, talk about symptoms, and inform them of available treatments. For instance, a study by the Harvard School of Public Health of patients who visited their doctor because of DTC advertising found that 25 percent were diagnosed with a new condition, as shown in Chart 1. Notably, among those who were diagnosed with a new condition, 43 percent of the diagnoses were for a "high priority" condition - a designation of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which includes such conditions as diabetes, high cholesterol, and arthritis.²

By preventing chronic conditions from escalating and identifying health problems before they require acute care, DTC advertising may help address overall costs to the health care system. Underdiagnosis, undertreatment, and untreated conditions are costly both in terms of lives and money. Each year more than 1.5 million Americans die from cancer, diabetes, heart disease or stroke. It is estimated that these chronic diseases cost the U.S. more than $600 million each year.³

A few studies by U.S. government agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), have confirmed the value of DTC advertising to patients and physicians, as have a number of studies by private organizations, including Prevention magazine and the Kaiser Family Foundation.^4,5,6,7

Despite such studies' findings, misunderstanding about the impact of pharmaceutical advertising may be fueling resistance to it. Two of the most persistent myths about prescription drug advertising are that pharmaceutical companies spend more money on it than on research and development, and that spending on advertising raises the prices of drugs. There is no evidence for either claim. In 2004, pharmaceutical companies spent $38.8 billion on research to develop new treatments for diseases - a higher R&D to sales ratio than any other U.S. industry, and far more than the $4.15 billion the industry spent on advertising and promotion.⁸ An FTC report concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that advertising of medicines increased the cost of medicines.⁹

It is important to know that every DTC ad is strictly regulated by the FDA and must contain approved language about the product and balancing information about the product's risks. Pfizer also sponsors advertising that seeks to educate patients about diseases without referencing a specific product. In all advertising to the patient, the underlying message is "see your doctor" for appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

Pfizer recently announced changes to its DTC ads to make them an even more valuable resource for patients. You will soon see that our ads have increased risk-benefit information, reinforcing messages about the importance of a patient's relationship with his or her doctor, and information about our prescription drug access programs. Additional information about these changes can be found in the Pfizer press release from August 2005 which announced the changes.

In This Section

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¹ Ipsos Health Poll. Mar. 2005.

² Weissman JS, et al. Consumers' reports on the health effects of direct-to-consumer drug advertising. Health Affairs. 2003 Jan-Jun; Suppl Web Exclusives: W3-82-95.

³Eyre H, Kahn R, Robertson RM. Preventing Cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, and Diabetes. Circulation 2004; 109:3244-3255.

⁴ For example, see: FDA. Patient and Physician Attitudes Attitudes and Behaviors Associated With DTC Promotion of Prescription Drugs: Summary of FDA Survey Research Results. Nov. 19, 2004. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/cder/ddmac/Final%20Report/FRfinal111904.pdf. Accessed on Oct. 26, 2005.; See also: Attitudes and Behaviors Associated with Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Promotion of Prescription Drugs. Available at: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CDER/ucm109593.htm. Accessed on Oct. 26, 2005.

⁵ FTC. Comments of the Staff of the Bureau of Economics, Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Office of Policy Planning of the Federal Trade Commission, before the Office of Management and Budget; In the Matter of Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Assessment of Physician and Patient Attitudes Toward Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Promotion Drugs; Survey, Docket No. 01N-0078, Sep. 24, 2001.

⁶ 6th Annual Survey: Consumer Reaction to DTC Advertising of Prescription Medicines. Prevention Magazine. 2003; 30-40.

⁷ Kaiser Family Foundation. Health Poll Result Survey, 2005.

⁸ Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association. PhRMA Chief Medical Officer Testifies on DTC Advertising. Press release. Sep. 29, 2005. Available at: http://www.phrma.org/publications/testimony_and_official_submissions/phrma_
chief_medical_officer_testifies_on_direct-to-consumer_advertising/. Accessed on Oct. 26, 2005.

⁹ FTC. Comments of the Staff of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, the Bureau of Economics, and the Office of Policy Planning of the Federal Trade Commission (December 2003) Before the Food and Drug Administration: In the Matter of Request for Comments on Consumer-Directed Promotion (Docket No. 2003N-0344). (V040002).

Last Updated September 2007