BMJ  2008;336:788 (12 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.39542.430451.3A

Letters

Direct to consumer advertising

Include cost of treatment

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Practising in the United States, I am well acquainted with direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs.¹ I suggest (and have suggested in the past to the Food and Drug Administration) that if such advertising is allowed, it should be mandatory for the manufacturer to state the typical cost of a course of treatment with the drug. My own experience of the $600 (£300; 385) treatment for onychomycosis was that this information could save a great deal of time in explaining to the patient why the drug is not covered by their insurance. It could also prevent a whole unnecessary discussion in the first place as patients quite readily recognise that the cost is out of proportion to their problem.

There is one other problem: the (very reasonable) requirement that side effects and contraindications are mentioned in the advertising fails to put them in proportion. Thanks to television advertisements, patients . . . [Full text of this article]

¹ Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29483, USA

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