Drug Co TV Ads - Benefits outweigh the risks?

[athena53]

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Originally Posted by ponyboy I know your husband is joking but anything lasting over 3 hours has the potential for permanent nerve damage...rendering the male appendage essentially useless. So hes kinda right...may want to have as much fun as possible before its over with for good.

Thanks for the warning; I'd heard that already but it's good for others to know. Funny how that little detail doesn't make it into the commercials.

[aja8888]

I've been lucky I haven't needed any of the most commonly prescribed drugs (although I may have just jinxed myself!).

I am knowledgeable about some of the commercials for certain drugs (Viagra, Calais, Lipitor, etc), but sometimes a drug commercial comes on and I have no clue what it is for since the advertisers don't spell out what the drug treats up front but there are visions of children chasing butterflies, gorgeous scenery, etc. Am I supposed to guess?

Also, after hearing all the possible side effects from the drug, I am clearly sure it won't be on my future list!

[razztazz]

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CYA... I don't think anyone pays much attention to the disclaimers.

I'm the opposite. I always want to know what the down-side is and have little reason to believe the drug will actually work as advertised. I'm sure it's good for something, yes, yes, whatever you say, but what's the down-side? And if there is a down-side, even if it might work, why would I want to take it?

[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by Midpack Quote: Originally Posted by ERD50 View Post As far as people putting 'pressure' on their docs - the doc can just say 'no - that is not appropriate for you'. If docs are going to prescribe anything we ask for, why do we need a prescription? Make everything OTC. If a doc can't say 'no' top a patient, they should have their licence taken away, IMO. It's part of their job, they have the medical training, not most patients. Follow the money. Doctors are highly incentivized - about 7 times as motivated as patients... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ads-than-ever/

I don't doubt it, but the docs should still just say 'no' if that's the right thing to do. Doctors are professionals, in a line of work that should be held to high standards.

I suppose I could say that cops are incentivized to take bribes, and car companies are incentivized to cheat on emissions testing, but they still should do the right thing.

-ERD50

[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by razztazz I'm the opposite. I always want to know what the down-side is and have little reason to believe the drug will actually work as advertised. I'm sure it's good for something, yes, yes, whatever you say, but what's the down-side? And if there is a down-side, even if it might work, why would I want to take it?

Simple - when the risk of the downside is offset by the expected gain on the upside.

No different from just about everything we do every day. Should I drive to town to get groceries - the downside is I might get killed in a car accident. Should I eat the groceries - the downside is they may contain salmonella, or e-coli, or some other harmful thing. Should I get out of bed.... and so on.

-ERD50

[aja8888]

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Originally Posted by ERD50 Simple - when the risk of the downside is offset by the expected gain on the upside. No different from just about everything we do every day. Should I drive to town to get groceries - the downside is I might get killed in a car accident. Should I eat the groceries - the downside is they may contain salmonella, or e-coli, or some other harmful thing. Should I get out of bed.... and so on. -ERD50

It's not worth it when one of the downside effects is possibly death.

[ziggy29]

DW and I joke about that in all those drug commercials. When the announcer finally gets to the end of the litany of possible side effects, we say "...and death."

[HFWR]

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Originally Posted by ziggy29 DW and I joke about that in all those drug commercials. When the announcer finally gets to the end of the litany of possible side effects, we say "...and death."

If you have died from taking whatchamofokin, call now...

[ziggy29]

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Originally Posted by HFWR If you have died from taking whatchamofokin, call now...

Yeah, that's the other kind of commercial that drives me nuts -- the drug ads and the personal injury lawyer ads. The latter are all over daytime over-the-air TV. I guess they figure they want to market to people who are less likely to have a job and looking for jackpot justice...

[aaronc879]

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Originally Posted by aja8888 It's not worth it when one of the downside effects is possibly death.

That's not necessarily true. A lot of drugs had human deaths at some stage of clinical testing. It may have been a very rare allergic reaction or the person may have already had his health compromised. If the drug is proven to be effective then it very well may out way the very small risk of death. Pharmaceutical drugs are the main reason people are living longer and with less health problems. I know many people who take arthritis medications or heart medications who are very much better off because of them even though they could have bad side effects.

[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by aja8888 It's not worth it when one of the downside effects is possibly death.

Sure it is (at least in many cases).

Consider - a drug to treat a debilitating disease that has a 99% chance of a dramatic improvement. But a 1 in 1 million chance of death.

So you are saying you don't go grocery shopping? There are some 40,000 fatal car accidents a year, and many more serious injuries. That's a pretty significant downside.

Or even eat, for that matter?

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CDC estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases.

-ERD50

[ziggy29]

Wow, I thought the "death as a side effect" comment was made somewhat tongue-in-cheek, not meant to be taken so literally. But what do I know?

[ERD50]

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Originally Posted by ziggy29 Wow, I thought the "death as a side effect" comment was made somewhat tongue-in-cheek, not meant to be taken so literally. But what do I know?

Death can be a side effect of some medicines. Check this:

Death following penicillin injection. Report of three cases. - PubMed - NCBI

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Death following penicillin injection. Report of three cases.

So no one should take penicillin due to the risk of death?

But the same applies to all the side effects. You have to weigh the good versus the bad, and proportion of each.

-ERD50

[athena53]

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Originally Posted by HFWR If you have died from taking whatchamofokin, call now...

I like the part of the drug commercials warning, "Don't take whatchamafokin if you are allergic to whatchamafokin..."

Ummm. how would I know?

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 It's not worth it when one of the downside effects is possibly death.

Ever go out to eat? Mishandled food can kill you. I spent 3 days hospitalized due to poison food, wishing I could die. The manager actually asked if I'd like a free meal afterwards.

[Chuckanut]

IIRC, I read that a certain medicine for toenail fungus is rather expensive and has about a 20% success rate. Hmmm....

[haha]

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Originally Posted by Redbugdave Well said! And especially the sex drug ads at dinner time.

I don't know, some of the most attractive, "middle aged" women the world has ever known appear in those ED adverts. And are they ever friendly!

Also, these pills seem to improve the man's appearance and economic success too. Tall slim guys with wavy steel grey hair, piloting 40' sloops. A lot to gain just by risking an erection that lasts > 4 hours.

Ha

[marko]

There's one ad (can't remember which) mentions "thoughts of suicide" a few times.

The problem is, the people on the ad are merrily walking along a 200 foot cliff overlooking the ocean. Probably not a good idea.

[Theseus]

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Originally Posted by GravitySucks The evening news is brought to you by today's wonder drug company while the news at noon is sponsored by the lawyers wanting you to sue last years wonder drug manufacturer. Both law and medicine were not allowed to advertise when I was a kid. Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

I would love to see a return to bans on law and medicine ads. And while we're at it, banning ads with any political substance whatsoever would make a for a wonderful world, would it not?

[JoeWras]

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Originally Posted by ziggy29 Wow, I thought the "death as a side effect" comment was made somewhat tongue-in-cheek, not meant to be taken so literally. But what do I know?

Maybe. But I know some people with bad arthritis who take some of the current crop of auto-immune drugs, and they openly talk about the death side effect.

That is, they were so miserable with the terrible arthritis, that they are willing to risk death with the improvement they've seen.

It isn't a 1 in a million. These drugs can suppress your system enough that you get leukemia or pneumonia, etc. It is a real risk.

As for Chantix, it worked great for my cousin and was life saving.

Finally... I, too, wish they'd get rid of these da*n commercials. Hate them.