• March 26, 2003

ACNielsen released new research yesterday showing that direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising is effective not only in generating initial sales of advertised prescription medicine brands, but also in boosting patient "compliance." Compliance is defined as "the degree to which chronic-condition sufferers refill their prescriptions in a timely manner." The findings were released here at the DTC National Conference & Exposition. According to the report sales analysis of 12 major DTC-advertised Rx brands from July through December 2002, more than 17% of new prescriptions filled came as a direct result of patients requesting the brand. The research shows that, of the 12 brands studied, prescriptions were refilled in compliance with the prescribed usage guidelines (in a time frame less than or equal to the time it should take a patient to run out of medicine) in just 30% of the cases.