Re:Doctors want ban on prescription drug, device advertisements
by ejstronge on Thursday November 19, 2015 @07:08PM
(#10598657)
That's a confusing argument - how would drugs for a condition come to exist without the existence of a patient population?
Your point is well-taken for individuals who don't fall in epidemiological categories (a 20-something is less likely to be asked about sexual dysfunction than a 60 year-old). Still, questions about sexual function are standard medical history questions.
Education about the availability of drugs can be performed by disease foundations - indeed, disease foundations underwrite the most risky part of drug discovery, the basic research component. For more common disorders, hospitals, the CDC, the NIH and even Google are beginning to provide digestible information that highlight standard treatments. In our web era, the importance of TV advertising for disease education is likely less than it might have been in the 80s.
Your point is well-taken for individuals who don't fall in epidemiological categories (a 20-something is less likely to be asked about sexual dysfunction than a 60 year-old). Still, questions about sexual function are standard medical history questions.
Education about the availability of drugs can be performed by disease foundations - indeed, disease foundations underwrite the most risky part of drug discovery, the basic research component. For more common disorders, hospitals, the CDC, the NIH and even Google are beginning to provide digestible information that highlight standard treatments. In our web era, the importance of TV advertising for disease education is likely less than it might have been in the 80s.