Drug Marketing "Is Here to Stay"

The Senate passed the Food and Drug Administration reform bill last night without amendments, thus sending it on to President Bush, who is expected to sign it into law. In an interesting sidebar on the bill's failure to limit direct-to-consumer television advertising, this morning's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) concluded with this quote: "Many people thought this was a moment . . . when moratoriums and other restrictions on DTC would flourish," said Rich Buckley, vice president for federal affairs at AstraZeneca PLC (these are the people who bring you those "purple pill" and "new purple pill" ads). Instead, DTC "is here to stay."

Interest factoid from the story: "In the U.S., pharmaceuticals were the tenth biggest advertiser in 2006, spending $5.3 billion, or 3.5% of the total $149.6 billion U.S. ad market. Pharmaceuticals also registered the highest growth rate among the top 10 U.S. advertisers, growing 13.8% to $5.3 billion from $4.6 billion in 2006."

Conclusion: To paraphrase the old Chicago saw, when it comes to DTC, the FDA ain't ready for reform, especially when Big Media and Big Pharma team up to lobby Congress.