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Consumer-Targeted Prescription Drug Ads Help Close Minority Health Gaps

You’ve seen them on TV, heard them on the radio, encountered them while reading the Sunday paper or your favorite magazine. Prescription drug ads aimed directly at health care consumers--rather than drug companies’ traditional customer, the physician--have become increasingly common in recent years and now account for as much as 15% of all pharmaceutical advertising. But when it comes to medications for treating chronic conditions that disproportionately affect African Americans, such as hypertension and asthma, do black patients really respond to these appeals to “ask your doctor about such-and-such drug?”

To answer this question, the National Medical Association (NMA), a professional organization of African-American physicians, embarked on a first-of-its-kind study of black patients’ views on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising for prescription drugs. Over an eight-month period, NMA member physicians nationwide conducted over 1,000 interviews with patients--91% of whom were African Americans--during routine doctors’ office visits. The survey asked patients such questions as: “Do you plan on discussing a prescription medicine you saw or heard advertised with your doctor during today’s visit?” and “Did you make your appointment for TODAY because you saw or heard an advertisement for a prescription medication?”

The study’s findings clearly indicate that DTC drug ads can play an important role in increasing black patients’ awareness of medical conditions that affect them, motivating them to seek medical treatment and encouraging them to take control of their health care. Patients reported feeling a sense of empowerment from the information they gained from the ads. Forty-four percent of the respondents said that a DTC ad had prompted them to seek more information; 21% said they wanted to discuss a medication with their doctor at the visit because of an ad, and 11% planned to ask their doctor for a prescription for a drug they had seen or heard advertised.

Because of these encouraging findings, the NMA is calling for the pharmaceutical industry to include more racial and ethnic diversity in DTC drug ads, so that their messages will reach and empower an even larger African-American audience. NMA President L. Natalie Carroll, MD, adds that “a look at how DTC advertising might impact the health outcomes of other minority populations warrants further discussion.”

To read the complete text of the DTC Patient Study, see the NMA Web site, www.nmanet.org.