Survey looks at public reaction to direct-to-consumer drug ads

McLEAN, Va. A new survey conducted by USA Today, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health showed that prescription drug ads prompted nearly one-third of Americans to ask their doctors about an advertised medicine, and 82 percent of those who ask say their physicians recommended a prescription. This is a result of the record $4.8 billion spent in 2006 on drug advertising; almost double the figure from 2002.

Among people who requested a drug, 44 percent said physicians gave the one they asked about, while slightly more than half said doctors prescribed a different drug. Sometimes, doctors did both. When duplicate answers were removed, the poll found 82 percent of patients got some type of prescription. This number is up from 75 percent in 2005.

Almost 1,700 adults were surveyed and also showed that 47 percent of Americans have a favorable impression of the drug industry, while 44 percent have an unfavorable view based on high prices and company greed as the reason for the unfavorable view.

Billy Tauzin, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry’s lobbying group, says many of those surveyed were likely reacting to increasing co-payments from insurers rather than escalating drug prices. Drug costs rose an average of 3.5 percent in 2006 over 2005, government data show.