Spending on Drugs Linked to Advertising

[Guest guest]

Last year the sales of pharmaceutical drugs increased

by a whopping 20.8 billion dollars. This is the result

of drug manufactures promoting their products directly

to consumers according to a New York Times article

dated November 21, 2001.

 

One company, Merck and Company spent 160.8 million

dollars to promote Vioxx, out-spending Pepsi and Budweiser

advertisements combined.

 

The article points out that physicians prescribed drugs

to two of every three patients that came to them. Well,

daaah! Isn't that the point, to buy more drugs?

 

According to Dr. Mercola of Optimal Wellness Center, this

is one of the main reasons why spending for prescription

drugs is the fastest-growing category of health care expenditures.

 

It is also one of the major factors contributing to the reason

physicians are the third leading cause of death in the US,

as they have an over reliance on using drugs as Band-Aids,

rather than seeking the cause of the problem.

 

You can learn more about this report at:

http://www.mercola.com/2001/dec/8/drug_advertising.htm

>>