Drug marketing effectiveness questioned

BOSTON, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Massive advertising campaigns waged by drug companies have had limited success in luring U.S. customers, a study released Monday indicates.

In what they said was the first-ever controlled study measuring the effectiveness of pharmaceutical direct-to-consumer advertising, researchers at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the University of Alberta in Canada found only a modest effect on drug sales. In some cases, there was no effect at all, they said.

The United States and New Zealand are the only countries allowing drug companies to advertise directly to consumers. In 2006, pharmaceutical companies spent about $5 billion on those campaigns, or about 14 percent of their total promotional budget, the researchers said.

"People tend to think that if direct-to-consumer advertising wasn't effective, pharma wouldn't be doing it," Harvard Medical School Professor Stephen Soumerai, principal study investigator, said in a statement. "But as it turns out, decisions to market directly to consumers is based on scant data."

The researchers looked at three drugs -- Enbrel (rheumatoid arthritis), Nasonex (nasal allergies), and Zelnorm (irritable bowel syndrome).

The results appear to indicate face-to-face promotion of drugs to doctors by drug company representatives is far more effective than direct advertising to drug users.

Their findings will appear Tuesday in the online version of British Medical Journal.