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New advertisements filling commercial time on television
offer things people don't have, but wish they could get simply by taking
a pill.
Like the Paxil ads for instance, that offer confidence
in social situations, or the ads that say Claritin is the cure for anyone
who's stuffed up and can't breathe.
With all this new hype, some question the ethics of
promoting drugs - even if they are prescriptions - on the television screen.
And it's not only a matter of health, it's also about money.
Prescription costs climbed
ten percent in the past year alone and some doctors blame costly ad campaigns.
Between 1998 and 1999, pharmaceutical companies increased
ad spending by 40 percent.
For example, the competing companies that make asthma medications Flonase,
Flovent and Nasonex spent $137 million
on advertisements.
Sales in turn increased 38 percent for Flonase, 61
percent for flovent and a whopping 116 percent for Nasonex.
The federal government
opened a door for the ads about three years ago by easing restrictions.
In the year 2000, several consumer groups lobbied
congress to reconsider those restrictions and tighten guidelines once
again.
kgw.com
February 21, 2001, 03:30 PM
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