# How much is spent by Big Pharma advertising prescription Rx to the Public? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-spent-by-big-pharma-advertising-prescription-rx-to-the-public/760692 "2016-07-23T18:09:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2016, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-spent-by-big-pharma-advertising-prescription-rx-to-the-public/760692/21 "2016-07-26T14:49:21Z")
> [@bump](#): > > It’s totally mercenary, but it does drive pharmaceutical R&D very efficiently, and has come up with treatments for a lot of conditions. Where it falls down is in a couple of areas- they tend to stick it to price-insensitive consumers (i.e. cancer patients who need the drugs to live, and will pay anything) and they don’t spend a lot of R&D money on developing treatments that won’t be profitable. None of which has anything to do with the mercenary and unethical practice of marketing prescription drugs to consumers. That such intense marketing has become part of the “R&D for the most profitable new drugs” is to the US’s shame. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-spent-by-big-pharma-advertising-prescription-rx-to-the-public/760692/22 "2016-07-27T21:02:05Z")
the only recent change is some companies voluntarily agreed to not market new drugs right away. Can’t recall which ones did that. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-spent-by-big-pharma-advertising-prescription-rx-to-the-public/760692/23 "2016-07-27T21:08:28Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Not necessarily. Good marketing enables a company to charge more for its product than they otherwise could. This improves their margins and makes them more profitable, but it doesn’t seem to benefit the consumer. Between Big Pharma or No Pharma, there’s probably an argument to be made that No Pharma is worse for the customer. Pharmaceutical companies employ and are run by people who went into the business to help people. It seems reasonable to assume that if they’re spending money on advertising, it’s an economic necessity to keep the business going, rather than out of a desire to wreak havoc on humanity. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-spent-by-big-pharma-advertising-prescription-rx-to-the-public/760692/24 "2016-07-27T21:13:13Z")
They seemed to do very well profit wise before they ran TV ads. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-spent-by-big-pharma-advertising-prescription-rx-to-the-public/760692/25 "2016-07-27T21:58:01Z")
Too, this is not a case of “marketing vs. not marketing” in the sense that a product only sells if it’s rammed in people’s faces, yadda yadda. This is a case of completely unethical marketing that bypasses the evaluating and prescribing physician to make patients demand new, often expensive, certainly high-profit drugs when they have little or no expertise in choosing an appropriate treatment. It’s not too far from ads aimed at children telling them to steal money from daddy’s wallet to buy the product. Pharm has no business directly marketing to consumers, as most countries understand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-spent-by-big-pharma-advertising-prescription-rx-to-the-public/760692.md?page=1)