August 13, 2007

Under the influence of drug marketing

The Los Angeles Times last week published a series of articles on drug marketing.

Excerpts:

"In a nation that consumed $279-billion worth of prescription medications in 2006 - spending 80% of that on brand name drugs - their efforts appear to be paying off. Americans filling a prescription choose brand-name products 37% of the time, even though three quarters of all prescription drugs in the U.S. are available in cheaper generics."

"Each day in the United States, an army of roughly 100,000 pharmaceutical company sales reps storms the waiting rooms and offices of the nation's 311,000 office-based physicians."

"The drug industry, according to estimates by the Center for Public Integrity, has spent $758 million on lobbying - more than any other industry - since 1998."

Posted by schwitz at August 13, 2007 08:13 AM | TrackBack
Comments
The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.