re: #91 lawhawk

I’d suggest banning all direct to public advertising. For one thing, why should anyone need to see a commercial that requires a laundry list of potentially fatal side effects for a drug that will make my eyelashes longer (Latisse).

That drug is a repackaged version of an older glaucoma drug (a real medical condition that if untreated will result in blindness), once people started realizing that longer and fuller lashes were a side effect.

You also manufacturers offering new uses for old drugs, which are repackaged/formulated for different uses. Cyclosporine was one of the first anti-rejection drugs (immunosuppressant for transplants). Now, it’s also used for dry eye (Restasis).

These aren’t trivial drugs - they have potentially deadly side effects, but remember, you’re supposed to talk to your doctor about this.

In a print setting, there’s usually a full page advertisement, followed by an endless stream of side effects and warnings. That’s just not the case on tv ads.

No, but there’s usually a laundry list of fairly unappetizing side effects at the end of every ad.

The thing is, ideally we’d all be knowledgeable consumers of pharmaceuticals. That is, when our doctors prescribe something for us, we’d look into it, even look into alternatives. We’d be able to have an intelligent conversation about potential issues. Instead, we depend on our Docs, because most people can’t grasp basic probability, let alone statistical analysis, so they have no idea how to interpret the information.