Both the economy and new political atmosphere in Washington are likely to affect direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of Rx drugs in the near future.
“According to a new study by TNS Media Intelligence,” reports Advertising Age, “DTC spending is down for the second consecutive year and likely will not reach the $5 billion mark by the end of 2008 that many media companies had counted on.”
Under the new Obama administration there will be new leaders of HHS (Daschle) and the FDA (TBD). New pressure will be put on the pharmaceutical industry to limit or perhaps ban DTC advertising.
The drug industry itself may be moving towards a voluntary moratorium on DTC advertising of newly-approved drugs.
Please take a few minutes to tell me your opinion of the future of Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription medications under a new Democratic Administration. In this survey, please focus on the near future: ie, 2009 and 2010. Questions include:

  1. Will DTC spending increase or decrease in 2009 compared to 2008? By how much?
  2. Should all or some forms of DTC advertising be banned in the US?
  3. Should there be a moratorium on DTC advertising? Should it be mandatory or voluntary?
  4. Should the business-tax deduction for DTC spending be taken away by legislation?
  5. Is there adequate risk information presented in DTC ads? Is it effectively communicated and does it balance benefit information?

Take the survey here
Results of this survey may be summarized in a future issue of Pharma Marketing News.
Your comments are confidential (anonymous) unless you specifically provide your contact information at the end of the survey and allow us to attribute comments to you personally.
Resources & Further Reading:

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR