According to MSNBC, direct-to-consumer advertising for pharmaceuticals are cluttering the airwaves with offers to cure Americans of their bipolar disorder, irritable bowel disease, sleeplessness, acid reflux, high cholesterol and more. However, when these Americans who are bombarded by magazine and television ads go into see their doctor, only a tiny fraction, about 3.5%, ask for the drugs they see in advertisements.

The study, reported in the Annals of Family Medicine, was based on a survey in Colorado and reflects similar findings from 2003. This data, MSNBC reports, is concerning for a $5 billion pharmaceutical advertising industry.

Moreover, the study noted that when patients do ask for an advertised drug, it’s often not a doctors first choice for a patient–another barrier between a successful advertising campaign and a sale for a pharmaceutical company. Raising questions, again, about the utility of direct-to-consumer advertising versus other kinds of advertising.

Although some say the study was flawed, it does raise some important questions about whether the pharmaceutical industry will choose to continue to advertise to patients or advertise only to the decision-makers–doctors.

Summer Johnson, PhD