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CNN Live At Daybreak
Congress Looks Into Drug Advertising, Pricing
Aired March 06, 2002 - 06:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Prescription drug ads, you see them all the time on television. It's one of the few growth areas in the beleaguered advertising industry. But now key members of Congress are debating whether you're paying for their ads with higher drug prices.
CNN's Susan Lisovicz reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are remedies for high cholesterol ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Zoloft.
LISOVICZ: And low spirits. For body parts that are highly sensitive ...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ask your doctor about Celebrex.
LISOVICZ: And for those that should be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So get in the driving seat ...
LISOVICZ: The airwaves are blanketed with commercials for prescription drugs, a $2-billion business that has quickly become the fastest growing category in TV advertising. Quickly because the Food and Drug Administration only allowed such advertising in 1997. Now some in Washington say the prescription for drug advertising needs to be rewritten.
REP. HENRY WAXMAN, (D), CALIFORNIA: The prices for drugs have really multiplied. The advertisers, the companies that advertise these drugs are getting a good return on their investment to advertise because they're selling more drugs and it often means that consumers are getting drugs that they're seeing in the ads that may not be the best or the least cost-effective drug for them.
LISOVICZ: But supporters say studies show prescription drug commercials are doing an aging population a great service.
DICK O'BRIEN, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ADVERTISING AGENCIES: Twenty-three million Americans going to see their doctors, basically to find out if they had a cholesterol problem, an arthritis problem. I think we all agree that's good news because in this country there are a number of diseases, which are basically under treated mainly because people don't know to go to talk to the doctors about them.
LISOVICZ: The FDA said it would issue a report every two years to gauge the impact of prescription drug ads. That report is overdue.
No one here on Madison Avenue is saying prescription drug commercials will completely go away, but Congress in tackling a prescription drug plan (UNINTELLIGIBLE) its complaints that rather than help consumers, which advertising has done little more than enrich the pharmaceutical industry.
Susan Lisovicz, CNN Financial News, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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