Naked Medicine

A Consumer Reports video of the Requip DTC ad (another drug used to treat RLS, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline) has been published.

Let me first state that I’ve seen the Requip ad in question many times when I watch TV, and each time I have the same negative reaction to the ad. This means I have some negative personal bias against the ad itself and the way the company is marketing this to consumers en masse. That said, I decided not to go to the drug company’s “defense video”, which may predispose me to additional bias, and I present my analysis of the anti-ad video by Consumer Reports.

A young woman is seen in the ad to go through the drug company’s ads line by line. She comments on the statements made by the drug company ad. She doesn’t really “analyze” the statements as much as comment – and there’s a big difference between an unbiased analysis and editorial/opinion/commentary (example, “Ooh! Sounds Serious” and “Sounds like the side effects are worse than the condition!” and lots of sentences beginning with exclamations like “Ahh!”).

Given that she doesn’t suffer from RLS, her commentary is biased and nothing more than an opinion. I’d like to hear from a member of that 3% population who DOES suffer from RLS and hear whether he or she agrees that the side effects are worse than the condition.

She does mention selectively the 2 people whose compulsive gambling caused them to lose over $100K each as a result of the side effect of Requip. $100K is a lot of money, no question about it. But 2 people – that’s a small “sample size” and in the medical community and the lines of “evidence based medicine” would constitute “case reports” – the weakest type of “evidence” and would be considered anecdotal more than actual evidence. Other types of side effects like nausea and headache probably had more reports, but $100K is more sensational. It seems like the Consumer Reports anti-ad video is using some of the techniques that they’re criticizing the drug company for doing – sensationalizing what is actually a very small percentage of occurrence.

Does the Consumer Report ad make valid points? Sure. Is the anti-ad “ad” video a spin? Yes. A gloating male voice comes at the end to say “This ad is sponsored by – NO ONE!” as a vehicle to suggest that everything it claims in the its video must be unbiased and therefore, credible. However, the video itself contains very little evidence, lots of editorial claims, and does not address symptoms of the actual condition of RLS so that consumers can be “better educated” if Consumer Reports does not believe the GSK’s Requip ad is doing a good job.

This reminds me a bit of smear campaigning that politicians use against each other. What I’d like to see is a curbing of anti-anything from activist groups. For once, I’d like to see someone spend the dollars coming up with the better solution to educating consumers credibly and objectively and setting a positive example for others to follow.

Source: John Mack who has been following the restless leg syndrome (RLS) “phenomenon”.

This past week’s Sunday “Post Secrets” had a postcard that said, “I don’t care what you said, I still think RLS IS BULLSHIT” sent on a postcard made from a Mirapex (prescription drug for restless leg syndrome or RLS) ad. This generated a flurry of comments in the Post Secret discussion forum, where people talked about experiencing RLS or witnessing a loved one who suffers from RLS.

Hence is the dilemma for direct to consumer advertising by drug companies.

On the one hand, there is a grain of truth in the ethics of drug companies to mass market to consumers a condition that affects a very small percentage of the population. One wonders why a drug company would choose huge media outlets like magazines and television to talk about a drug for a condition a very small percentage of the population suffers from. Would this create false diagnoses? Foster hypochondrias in those who do not actually suffer from the condition, but have become suggestive to think they do based on what little they know about the condition in a 30 second TV commercial?

On the other hand, those who do suffer from the rare condition can feel a sense of relief that they were not alone or “crazy”, that the condition is indeed a medical one requiring medical intervention, and that there is medical help. Even if drug companies try to educate doctors on a rare condition, doctors may not always have time to do a detailed workup and uncover the condition unless the patient proactively offers this information.

As cynical as I am of DTC advertising by drug companies, I still choose having the information out there than not having the information available at all.

With all the media attention on high cholesterol and heart health, it’s not surprising that some companies are preying on consumers with “natural” treatments like “red yeast rice products” that may contain prescription drugs without obtaining authorization from the US FDA. The FDA is now warning consumers about these products sold on the Internet as dietary supplements for high cholesterol:

Red Yeast Rice and Red Yeast Rice/Policosonal Complex, sold by Swanson Healthcare Products, Inc. and manufactured by Nature’s Value Inc. and Kabco Inc., respectively; and Cholestrix, sold by Sunburst Biorganics.

These products were found to contain lovastatin, an anti-cholesterol drug, yet the manufacturers do not warn consumers about the potentially dangerous side effects of products containing this chemical the way that pharmaceutical companies are required by law to warn consumers. The FDA has sent warning letters to these companies to stop selling these products. Source: FDA

I’ve been tracking the various developments and commentaries on the controversy surrounding diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline). For those of you interested in background information and commentaries relating to the use of Avandia and increased risk for heart disease, as well as the affordability of chronic medications like diabetes drugs, I’ve compiled a short reading list including abstracts to the original research articles to help you get started. Please read my conflict of interest disclosure at the end of this article. Read the rest of this entry »

First it’s zapping bad memories (see previous article) and now – monthly periods for women. Gents, you may think of this post as “for ladies only” but keep reading: this has general biological implications for either gender.

Did you know that a small percentage – 8% according to this NYT report – of women have such painful periods that the condition qualifies as a disorder?

Enter Wyeth – a company manufacturing a pill that will zap debilitating periods – “forever”. Read the rest of this entry »