Medical Device Consumer Ads Need Regulation
January 24th, 2008 joshua
Ten years ago you would have been hard-pressed to see any advertisements for prescription drugs. Since the late 1990s, drug makers spend $5 billion annually on direct-to-consumer promotions. Right now, an ad for Valtrex is on the television.
Now, according to The Star Ledger newspaper, some medical professionals fear the same trend is occurring with the medical device industry. More importantly, the advertisement of medical devices is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, as it is with prescription drugs.
A doctor interviewed by the newspaper worries that patients have begun asking for specific replacement body parts, specifically hip and artery stents. The doctor acknowledged that while it does increase the amount of communication between doctor and patient, not every new device is best.
Consumers are often swayed by an advertisement; that’s why there is so much of it … everywhere. And when the company’s begin using celebrities to endorse their replacement parts, like Biomet Inc., does with Mary Lou Retton and its partial knee implant , patients are think they need this part based purely on vanity or an affinity for a celebrity.
The ads should be regulated and it’s likely to occur considering the medical device industry’s checkered track record, especially of late.
