Direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical “ads provide biased educational material and emotional appeals that promote drugs over healthy alternatives.”
“A recent systematic review of the limited evidence found that DTC advertising is associated with patients’ request for specific drugs and increased prescription of advertised drugs without benefits in health outcomes.”
http://www.annfammed.org/cgi/content/full/5/2/101
Pharmaceutical television advertising is a significant part of a drug development’s budget, contributing to the rising cost of health care.