<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><BR><DIV><DIV>On May 9, 2006, at 4:15 AM, Andrew Hutchinson wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><BR><BR><DIV><SPAN class="gmail_quote">On 09/05/06, <B class="gmail_sendername">Andrew Hutchinson</B> <<A href="mailto:ahutchinson.mythtv@googlemail.com">ahutchinson.mythtv@googlemail.com</A>> wrote:</SPAN><BLOCKQUOTE class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> <DIV style="direction: ltr;"><BR><BR><DIV></DIV><DIV style="direction: ltr;"><SPAN class="q"><SPAN class="gmail_quote">On 09/05/06, <B class="gmail_sendername">Chad</B> <<A href="mailto:masterclc@gmail.com" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"> masterclc@gmail.com</A>> wrote:</SPAN><BLOCKQUOTE class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> > And the absolute worst is the advertising for prescription drugs. I<BR>> understand that only the USA permits this. I wonder why? It must<BR>> work, or they wouldn't keep doing it, and the thought of people<BR> > ingesting potentially hazardous drugson the basis of a TV ad really<BR>> scares me.<BR><BR>;) Did I mention I work in a Pharmacy?<BR><BR>Yeah, the drug commercials are by far the ones I pay no attention to.<BR>They practically lie straight out, and are extremely boring. And <BR>what's even more odd to me is that I've never gone to a Doctor and<BR>said "I've got a problem with my hips" and the MD reply with "Do you<BR>have a suggestion for a Drug I can prescribe you?". Or even better, <BR>"I've got a problem with my Hips, can you prescribe me some <fill in<BR>the blank arthritis drug>?" And have the MD actually reply with a<BR>"Sure". IME (experience) Drug companies best form of advertising is <BR>their luncheon's and product lecture series. THEN they target their<BR>ideal audience, the prescriber. Otherwise, they are simply saying<BR>"Hey moron, go tell your Doctor what he should be prescribing you"; <BR>and I don't understand the logic there...<BR><BR>Heh, stupid medicine.<BR><BR>Chad</BLOCKQUOTE></SPAN></DIV><DIV style="direction: ltr;"><DIV><BR> <BR> It might not seem logical to you, but this form of advertising is very lucrative (and completely irresponsible) on the part of the drug company. The fact is people do go to the doctor and say "I need XXX drug for this" and a lot of doctors will prescribe it. This is especially the case when the drug companies make it known on the advert what symptoms their drugs are used for. <BR> <BR> One really bad case was "Adult ADD" which I saw while in America. It went along the lines of "Are you tired in the morning?", or "Do you have trouble concentrating for long periods of time?".. I really couldn't believe what I was hearing! This would never be allowed anywhere else. Anyway, it works, and in my opinion its a problem.<BR> <BR> And trust me, they pay big money to market to the doctors too at the "luncheons" like you suggest.. its all a scam really. <BR> </DIV></DIV> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR></DIV><DIV>It must work or they wouldn't continue to spend millions of $$$ on such advertising, and there must be a reason no other civilized country will allow such advertising.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>But here, where the corporations write the legislation, they can get just about anything they want.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Doctors will write the prescriptions because it is a quick and simple way of getting the "throughput" they want/need, and explaining things to the patient in an attempt to undo what the adverts have wrought is not.</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Such is life in the "Land of the Fee".</DIV></BODY></HTML>