Consumers are besieged daily by ads for prescription drugs, all beseeching you to “ask your doctor” for a given brand-name drug for an ailment that you might, or might not, actually have. Those ads don't always tell the whole story. They might, for example, play down or omit information about nondrug options, or imply that a drug works wonders for everyone when in reality it works only marginally better than a placebo. That's why we started the Consumer Reports AdWatch series. Our video commentaries on a sampling of direct-to-consumer drug ads are designed to give you the facts that the commercials leave out, so that you can be better informed when making health decisions. We hope that they're fun, too:
Direct to consumer (DTC) drug advertising is big business for a good reason--it works. In 2007 alone, drug companies spent
$5,375,117,382 on advertising. Yes, that's $5.375 billion dollars. The chart below highlights 25 of the biggest spenders along
with their sales, giving an indication of how much their ad spending has paid off (or not, in the case of Rozerem):
|
Drug |
Approved for1 |
DTC advertising |
Retail sales |
Sales per ad dollar spent |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lunesta |
Insomnia |
$294,180,616 |
$712,740,000 |
$2.42 |
|
Ambien CR |
Insomnia |
$204,065,972 |
$876,028,000 |
$4.29 |
|
Cymbalta |
Anxiety, depression, diabetic neuropathy pain |
$183,336,687 |
$1,732,827,000 |
$9.45 |
|
Lipitor |
High cholesterol |
$180,866,960 |
$6,165,531,000 |
$34.09 |
|
Plavix |
Stroke risk reduction |
$174,942,656 |
$3,082,712,000 |
$17.62 |
|
Rozerem |
Insomnia |
$171,466,210 |
$116,658,000 |
$0.68 |
|
Cialis |
Erectile dysfunction |
$151,649,663 |
$453,233,000 |
$2.99 |
|
Vytorin |
High cholesterol |
$140,715,035 |
$1,938,882,000 |
$13.78 |
|
Nasonex |
Seasonal allergies |
$131,220,183 |
$892,534,000 |
$6.80 |
|
Advair Diskus |
Asthma |
$121,197,100 |
$3,390,766,000 |
$27.98 |
|
Boniva |
Osteoporosis |
$112,958,755 |
$404,109,000 |
$3.58 |
|
Zetia |
High cholesterol |
$110,357,144 |
$1,405,066,000 |
$12.73 |
|
Requip |
Restless Legs Syndrome, Parkinson's disease |
$106,271,994 |
$407,665,000 |
$3.84 |
|
Abilify |
Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia |
$105,768,412 |
$1,781,562,000 |
$16.84 |
|
Flomax |
Enlarged prostate |
$100,969,013 |
$1,002,163,000 |
$9.93 |
|
Nexium |
Heartburn and GERD |
$96,960,417 |
$4,355,901,000 |
$44.92 |
|
Valtrex |
Herpes and shingles |
$88,409,332 |
$1,395,313,000 |
$15.78 |
|
Spiriva |
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease |
$84,002,514 |
$868,226,000 |
$10.34 |
|
Yaz |
Contraceptive pill |
$83,566,746 |
$254,592,000 |
$3.05 |
|
Viagra |
Erectile dysfunction |
$83,064,378 |
$824,946,000 |
$9.93 |
|
Lyrica |
Fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain |
$70,663,685 |
$1,000,069,000 |
$14.15 |
|
Chantix |
Smoking cessation |
$63,979,755 |
$764,723,000 |
$11.95 |
|
Singulair |
Asthma and seasonal allergies |
$63,289,786 |
$2,863,326,000 |
$45.24 |
|
Celebrex |
Pain from conditions like osteoarthritis |
$55,230,236 |
$1,416,084,000 |
$25.64 |
|
Zyrtec |
Seasonal allergies |
$38,476,595 |
$1,302,807,000 |
$33.86 |
2Data compiled by Nielsen Media research, March 2008.
3Data provided by Drug Topics and Verispan, March 2008.
