EFFECT OF DIRECT-TO-CONSUMER ADVERTISING IN U.S. / CANADA

Article from ‘The Star’ news,

Canada’s ban on direct-to-consumer drug advertising probably saved Canadians with high cholesterol and their drug plans $150 million in 2006 alone.

A new study comparing U.S. and Canada sales patterns of a controversial cholesterol lowering drug show the dramatic savings.

Canadian sales of the drug Ezetrol (ezetimibe) were four times lower than those rung up south of the border, where the drug’s manufacturers spent $200 million (U.S) advertising the drug to consumers in 2007.

Sales of ezetimibe, which is sold in the U.S. as ‘Zetia’ or combined with a ‘statin’ drug as ‘Vytorin’ are expected to drop after releasing the trial results showing the drug failed to slow atherosclerosis, the clogging of the arteries with fatty deposits.

“It basically shows that the approach in Canada to this whole drug was much more appropriate and evidence-based compared to the U.S. approach where basically it’s been marketed very aggressively”, says Dr. Jack Tu , one of the authors of the study comparing usage trends in the two countries. He also says that, “it is sort of a textbook example of the potential downsides if you have direct-to-consumer advertising where the manufacturer potentially can promote new and expensive drugs that don’t have a huge amount of evidence behind them and get them to be first-line therapy as opposed to older, cheaper medications with a lot more evidence”.

Ezetimibe was brought to the U.S. market in October, 2002, and in Canada in May 2003. Vytorin hit the U.S. market in July, 2004, but was never licensed for sale in Canada. The manufacturers, Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp., aggressively pushed the drugs in the U.S. with TV commercials. ‘Ezetimibe’ captured 15 % of the U.S. market for cholesterol lowering drugs by 2006, whereas in Canada it made up only 3.4 % of such sales.

Only the U.S. and New Zealand allow direct-to-consumer advertising. Health Canada allows pharmaceutical companies to advertise only either the name of a drug or a health condition with a reminder that people who suffer from it should talk to a doctor about potential treatments.

There is lot evidence that if you advertise directly to consumers and induce the patients to mention a particular drug to their doctors, their doctors are likely to prescribe it regardless of the medical evidence for that drug.

Now we know what is going to happen in Canada if and when the government of Canada lifts its restriction on direct-to-consumer advertising with in Canada.