One third of the people with major depression seek no treatment, and millions of Americans are estimated to have high blood pressure and don't know about it. There are encouraging signs that DTC advertising is getting more people diagnosed and treated. For example, in the two years that ads for a medicine for erectile dysfunction have appeared, millions of men have visited their doctors to request a prescription for the drug. And, according to a study by IMS Health, in the one year after an advertising campaign for an osteoporosis drug began, physician visits for women concerned about osteoporosis doubled. Consumers are actively seeking information about their health and about medicines.
Pharmaceutical companies are a prime source of such information.
Patients have the right to ask for information about the treatments available, and the companies that develop those treatments have a right to communicate information about these problems and about health problems to patients.