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Posted 18/12/2009
A new study by Dr Michael Law et al. of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine of 23 November 2009, suggests that US direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) for a top-selling drug had no effect on prescribing rates, but led to a major rise in the drug’s price. Use of Bristol-Myers Squibb/sanofi-aventis’ blood-thinner Plavix (clopidogrel), which first appeared on the market in 1998, did not increase as a result of the consumer advertising campaign for it, which began in 2001. However, a “sudden and sustained increase” in the drug’s price after the advertisements commenced cost 27 state Medicaid programmes an additional US$207 million in pharmacy expenditures during 2001–2005, say the authors.
