- Reuters, Thursday, August 16, 2007 11:15 AM
The deep pockets at drug companies just keep getting deeper. Ten years after a rule change allowed drug companies to advertise directly to U.S. consumers, the overall amount spent promoting medicines
is 2.6 times what it was in 1996, according to a study released Aug. 15. Total spending on pharmaceutical promotion grew to $29.9 billion in 2005 from $11.4 billion in 1996, an average annual growth
rate of 10.6 percent.
The study, from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, also found evidence that regulators are doing less to police such ads. The group
found that the FDA has been sending out fewer letters to drug companies warning them that their commercials are minimizing risks or exaggerating effectiveness. In 1997, 142 such letters were sent.
Last year there were only 21.
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