11-18-2015, 09:36 PM
pdq wrote:
Good on the AMA.
Does anyone believe drug companies spending bazillions on advertising is a good thing? e.g:
[quote=Science Blogs]Nexium is actually a drug which should never have even been approved by the FDA. It really is only prescribed because of intense marketing because, logically, it has no business on the market and is no different than an existing drug [ie now-generic and less expensive] prilosec. Why would doctors irrationally prescribe this drug then? Because advertising encourages irrational choices.
Exactly! Or to be more precise, a small fraction of the population does not possess the ability to use both enantiomers present of the active ingredient - omeprazole - marketed as Prilosec. Prior to Nexium being released, which is just a single enantiomer of the active ingredient, patients who fell into that small group just were given twice as much. So Nexium was not actually that different/needed.