It’s also a way to say: “Remember that you–yes you, but we can’t personally name every consumer of this product–may be allergic to things. If so, run through that list and see if anything sounds familiar.”
“Are you allergic to penicillin/lactose/talc” is asked all the time, with honestly more than CYA motivation.
Carry on.
eta: sort of ninja’ed.
Ok, but I would think that only applies to a relatively small percentage of drug advertisements.
Not really. There are umpteen different amphetamines. And umpteen different beta blockers. And umpteen different statins. Each of those categories of drugs contain a lot of similar ingredients.
If you’re allergic to statin A, there is at least a decent chance you’re allergic to statin B. So if you have had a mild adverse reaction to statin A and you & your doc are trying B looking for a better result it’s worthwhile to be on the alert for the same reaction, either stronger or weaker.
And if you do react to statin B, when choosing statin C it’d be good to try one with none of whatever A & B have in common.
etc.
The vast majority of adverse reactions are relatively trivial. Certainly trivial compared to the affects of the untreated condition they work against. If not, the drug would not be on the market.
Yes, some are severe for a tiny and unidentifiable subset of the population. Sucks to be you (any you) sometimes. Them’s the breaks for the current population at the current state of the art.
Projection is a nasty side effect of certain drugs.
The FDA requires by law that ALL contraindications be listed in a drugs tv commercial. The very first contraindication is of course not to take the drug if you’re allergic to it.
While the commercial is designed to introduce you to the drug the contraindications in the package insert are to protect the drug company. The government’s requirement that ALL contraindications be listed is how this came to be.
I once bought a jar or roasted peanuts, and the label said “made in a factory that processes: peanuts”
Remember, all drugs are dangerous to some degree. They are approved because they are shown to be beneficial and worth the risk. A drug company can’t be sued just because a drug causes injury. If so, there wouldn’t be any drugs.
What they get sued over is not disclosing the dangers to the consumer. The suit is all about informing the consumer, not the damage the drug causes.
This was demonstrated most clearly in a supreme court ruling that said generic drug companies could not be sued if someone is injured by a drug even if the company who developed the drug is successfully sued at the same time by someone who took the name brand drug and was injured. The drugs and the injury were identical. The advantage is that the generic drug company has no control, by federal regulation, over what information is provided. They can’t make any additions/changes. Only the drug developer who got the approval can, with the FDAs approval, make changes to the drug interaction sheet.
After that ruling, Congress changed the law so that everyone pays when there is injury. It put the generic makers on the same level as the developers. Now of course we have sharply rising prices and shortages of generic drugs. Sigh. No good deed goes unpunished.
The only reason any disclaimers are in drug ads is that the law requires them. There would be none at all if that weren’t the case.
Fairly sure there’s no restriction on mentioning the name of a rival drug in a disclaimer. They don’t do it because it gives exposure to a competitor. If the allergy is to a different drug, they’d most likely use the generic name of that drug.
I was just going to mention this - I see this all the time on nut-obvious food… “Peanut butter (*May contain nuts)”. This is in the UK too, in case you think it’s just US companies who are paranoid about being sued.
Pharma commercials are one of those weird ‘I’m in a foreign country!’ things about visiting America. Here you can’t advertise prescription medicines, as they are only to be taken on the advice of your doctor, not an ad agency.
They do advertise OTC medication though and I am sure that they include some kind of warning. There is a problem with warnings in general though, and that is that we simply become blind to them. It’s the same as those pay-day loan companies that have to put, in tiny print and for the briefest time allowable, the information which includes the fact that you will pay 1,250% (yes - One thousand, two hundred and fifty percent) interest. Is it only me who reads that stuff?
The vast majority of people aren’t going to have an allergic reaction, and forcing everyone to take up clinic space (and waste hours sitting around) isn’t worth the minor risk reduction.
If you take a prescribed drug you’ve never taken before, then drive home, by far the most dangerous part of that process is driving home. So if doctors really wanted to reduce the chance of adverse affects, they’d force everyone to take the bus home 
This too.
I had a very bad allergic reaction to a drug a few years ago, and after being hospitalized for several days and having all manner of tests run, they finally did determine that it was an allergic reaction via genetic test. They found a DNA marker for a specific allergy. They didn’t run that test until they were trying to confirm the diagnosis of allergy, but given the rapid cheapening of DNA tests, it wouldn’t surprise me if, in 10 years or so, a DNA screen before prescribing new drugs becomes standard.
Not to mention that most allergic reactions are minor, and can be reported when they happen and the drug changed, if possible.
The thing that gets me in those ads are stuff like “be sure to tell your doctor if you had a kidney removed” or stuff like that. I’d kind of hope the doctor takes a history and the patient is honest about providing it.
I’ve had a doctor specifically tell me to use a medication that I’m allergic to.
I have a contact dermatitis to neomycin. I’m effectively allergic to the majority of over the counter antibiotic ointments.
When I was diagnosed (via a patch test), I asked what I should do if I’m travelling on a dive trip and cut myself - just clean the wound, or use a neomycin product. He advised me to use neomycin.