No Rx cure.(U.S. House of Representatives wants to suppress direct-to-consumer ads for prescription drugs)(Brief Article)(Editorial)

Advertising Age, September, 2001

Advertising industry organizations in Washington are right to be alarmed-and angry-about ideas circulating in the U.S. House of Representatives this summer for suppressing direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs.

Thanks to DTC advertising, there has been an explosion in the amount of information reaching U.S. consumers about prescription products. It's commercial speech, to be sure, which taints its ``value'' so far as many advertising critics are concerned. But DTC ads have made more consumers more aware of prescription products that might benefit them than at any time in our history.

With this knowledge, consumer spending on prescription drugs has sharply increased. For health insurance plans that provide drug coverage, costs are...

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