Health Affairs

Posting date: April 28, 2004

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Health Affairs, 10.1377/hlthaff.w4.259
Copyright © 2004 by Project HOPE

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Perspective: Turning Point Or Tipping Point: New FDA Draft Guidances And The Future Of DTC Advertising

Peter J. Pitts ^1*

¹ Peter Pitts is associate commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Rockville, Maryland.

^*Corresponding author.

Abstract

According to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) research, direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug ads are not as empowering as they were even three years ago. How will the FDA’s new draft guidances reverse this trend and affect the future of DTC advertising? Will they be a turning point, resulting in pharmaceutical companies’ embracing an educational public health imperative, or a tipping point with politicians and the public zeroing in on aggressively targeted DTC ads as the postimportation pharmaceutical bête noire? The FDA believes that its new guidances strengthen the strategic argument that a better-informed consumer lays the groundwork for a better potential customer.

Key Words: Consumer Issues, Legal/Regulatory Issues, Media, Pharmaceuticals, Ethical Issues, Health Spending

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