Is it me, or are the drug companies really upping their advertising?

[Thor_MN]

Is talk of a bill banning direct to consumer ads prompting them to get in as many ads as they can?

[Duckhunter935]

1. Yes

[Control-Z]

15. It is so bad

that Xrelto has an ad (with all it's standard warnings and footage of it's happy users) directly followed by a warning ad (by lawyers ) on how to sue if "you or a loved one died" because of it.

The two running together just started in the last couple of days. It may be a mistake in commercial programming. Maybe not.

The warning ads have been on for months.

[elias49]

2. Seems that way to me. I think it's despicable.

One of my pet peeves. I'm compiling a list of all the generic names out of curiosity.
Latuda
Namzaric
Opdivo
There are dozens of these innocuous and absolutely nonsense names for drugs that
"Might cause lymphoma. In rare cases, deaths have been reported"
Between nursing homes and drugs, the elderly will be living on charity (One would hope for this much!)

[angryvet]

3. and their commercials

make no sense. The Cialis and Viagra ads are a blatant excuse for the extremely high cost of the drugs. Tell me is there any person over 21 in the US who doesn't know about them and what they are for. Why do I have to see them 10 times a day?

[jberryhill]

13. Over 21?

I'm pretty sure everyone under 21 knows what they are too.

[Thor_MN]

21. My cousin's 10 year old daughter asked her if daddy's heart was healthy enough for sex.

[jberryhill]

22. Lol

I think I'd say, "It sure was ten years ago."

[Kalidurga]

4. They are

I rarely watch tv, but when I do I always see drug ads.

[SheilaT]

5. Because I so rarely watch live TV,

I don't see very many ads, and when I am at someone's house, or turn on a TV in a hotel room, I truly shocked by the number of ads and often by their content. The drug ads always seem bizarre: trying to convince the viewer that he or she has some rare disease or syndrome that can be magically healed by the drug being promoted, and pay no real attention to the many terrible side effects.

[jberryhill]

14. Those things always make me wonder if I urinate too frequently

I'm like.. pee or have sex with my wife? Which will it be?

Do you want to have sex with your wife, but can't because you have to pee? What the ever living fuck is that about?

[Control-Z]

16. They added that pee thing recently.

I'm a woman, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out if impotent men had pee problems, or pee problems are what made men impotent. What does one have to do with the other?

I've actually asked a couple guys and they were as confused as I.

[jberryhill]

17. Ah, I had this explained to me

They found out that the medication in question had a beneficial side effect. It turned to be two meds in one.

Viagra was originally being tested as a heart medication. The side effect was entirely unintended, but has become its primary use.

[edhopper]

9. Yes

It seems that way to me too.

"If you are dying or seriously ill, ask your Doctor. Because he obviously doesn't know shit all."

[a kennedy]

10. Yup, and don't ya love the possible side effects??? And in a few years they'll be lawyers

and attorneys trying to get you to sign on for a class action suit against whatever drug you took because so many have been injured or died because of taking all those damn drugs.

[Hekate]

11. Yeah& it sucks. My least favorite is the one for lung cancer that MAY extend your life. Quacks. nt

[Control-Z]

18. OMG

You are so right. It is the worst of the new ones.

"Imagine, adding 3 weeks to your life."

(At $40,000.00 a week.)
Who can question the price of life?

[Hekate]

19. You're in terrible pain and suffering, with death imminent, and you should suffer a bit longer?

Oh, and bankrupt your family, because this ad campaign cost a shitload of money.

The ads show such happy families, the patients walking around, enjoying their added bit of life -- and all the while I'm going, "I don't think this is how it goes with end stage lung cancer."

[Elwood P Dowd]

12. I remember a funny instance one night

when a station was showing the national ad spots that included a drug for low testosterone. That was followed by the local ad spots, including one from a lawyer advertising his expertise suing corporations selling deadly drugs for low testosterone.

[Hekate]

20. A pet peeve of mine: drugs for symptoms that I reliably get as side effects of drugs I already take

I am now on the third or fourth prescription for age-related arthritis. Typically they work well until they get swapped out for a generic. I pay no attention at first because all seems to be okay, and then the dry mouth kicks in, and after that the slightly swollen tongue and throat, which if it goes on long enough gives me the most awful obstructive sleep apnea. As I told my doc when he prescribed the latest thing that now sits on my shelf, "It's terrifying. You should try it."

Yet when I watch the abundant tv ads, I can tell that if I'm not damn careful I am going to end up with something prescribed to treat symptoms caused by a drug I should just quit taking.

At the moment I am simply taking a couple of adult-size aspirin in the mornings when I am scheduled for Pilates.

[cwydro]

23. They've learned that Americans will believe anything.

They want us to take their drugs so now we not only have the flu vaccine - we're being told we need a shingles vaccine, a whooping cough vaccine, a pneumonia vaccine, etc., etc.

I remember some TV doctor some time back referring to Americans as "the worried well."

This is so true.