Pharmaceutical advertising aimed at consumers makes healthy people believe they need medical attention, according to a Canadian researcher.

Barbara Mintzes of the University of British Columbia examined what is often called "direct to consumer" drug ads, which are not allowed in Canada but are permitted in the United States and New Zealand.

According to Mintzes, the ads cast such a wide net they tend to target relatively healthy people in an attempt to recoup the costs of the ad campaigns. Around 40 per cent of spending on direct to consumer advertising is on only 10 drugs, mainly new, expensive drugs for long-term use.




"(The ads) portrayed the educational message of a pill for every ill," writes Mintzes in the most recent issue of the British Medical Journal. "And increasingly an ill for every pill."

Mintzes calls it the "medicalisation of normal human experience" — when non-medical problems become defined and treated as medical problems, usually in terms of illnesses and disorders.

Ads omit information about likelihood of success

The journal has published two editorials arguing both sides of the matter. Mintzes is against direct to consumer ads.

Silvia Bonaccorso and Jeffrey Sturchio of Merck, a pharmaceutical giant, argue for them. Bonaccorso and Sturchio say the ads are a way for consumers to "access the best quality information they need, when they need it."

In 1999, Americans were exposed to nine prescription ads a day on television.

Ads shift the pattern of use of healthcare services
Mintzes counters that by saying U.S. ads for conditions such as hair loss, menopause, obesity, osteoporosis, and acne often tell consumers that a solution can help them "improve their health and avoid more serious, costly conditions down the road." Mintzes says these conditions are rarely acute.

She says the ads shift the pattern of use of healthcare services. For example, the Dutch Health Inspectorate reported dramatic increases in consultations for toenail fungus after a three month media campaign.

In conclusion, Mintzes argues direct-to-consumer ads don't provide consumers with good information.

She points out that in a 10-year analysis of advertising in American magazines, 91 per cent of advertisements omitted information about the likelihood of treatment success and 71 per cent failed to mention any other possible treatments.

In Canada, there's a limit to what drug ads can say: they can advertise the name of a product or say what it treats, but not together in the same ad.

Pharmaceutical companies are pushing to loosen the rules. They want to follow the American example. Health Canada is set to release proposed changes to the current rules.

Drug makers argue advertising their remedies helps consumers take charge of their health.