Hacker News Reader

Comment by dave84 | Hacker News Reader

When I visited the US a few years ago it seems like every TV ad break there was a "Feeling X, ask your doctor about Y". Where X was some generic condition like bloating or feeling old, and X was a brand name prescription drug.

View on HN

I can categorically say that is untrue. While not a fan of direct pharmaceutical marketing, the FDA has strict rules about what needs to be in an advertisement. Chiefly, it must address:

* At least one approved use for the drug (the actual medical condition that it has been tested for)

* The generic name

* Nearly every side effect the drug can give you. There are some side-rules on that one.

I’m sure the paragraph of tiny text at the bottom of the screen technically met the above requirements. Doesn’t change the substance of the advert.

How can you categorically say that is untrue while not providing any evidence to the contrary, but in fact confirm the other person's observations?

Essentially: they said commercials have A and B, you said that's untrue because comercials have to have A, B, and C.

The OP said 'generic symptoms.' There are no prescription drugs for 'generic symptoms', they must have a specific approved use and they must be mentioned verbally in the commercial. Here is the evidence to the contrary:

https://www.fda.gov/drugs/prescription-drug-advertising/pres...

Yeah but let's be real, while the "specific approved use" might be clear to a medical practitioner in a journal write-up related to FDA approval, the actual prescription ads shown to normal people attempt to use as general simple wording as possible to describe symptoms. To laypeople these start to blur together to very simple statements like "feeling tired? Worried about excessive weight gain?" While these might be symptoms of a specific FDA approved use of the drug, it results in an atmosphere of confusion for normal folks.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com