Don't Be Deceived By Drug Company Tactics

Here's a good article about the lies we are told by the pharmaceutical companies:

Don't Be Deceived By Drug Company Tactics
Marcia Angell, MD
Harvard Medical School

reprinted from Bottom Line/Health, March 1, 2005

In light of the recent revelations about the harmfulness of the prescription drug rofecoxib (Vioxx) and other painkillers, drug companies have come under increased scrutiny.

Fact: Between 1997 and 2001, drug companies tripled the amount of money they spent on direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs -- the ads now seen so frequently on television and in newspapers.* The number of retail prescriptions rose from 2.4 billion in 1997 to 3.1 billion in 2001. Those prescriptions carry a total yearly price tag of at least $200 billion, with the cost rising about 12% per year, approximately six times the rate of inflation.

But doesn't the increased use of medications signal better health for Americans? Not necessarily.

To learn more about the claims made by drug companies, Bottom Line/Health spoke to Marcia Angell, MD, former editor-in-chief of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine...