July 2001 • Volume 7 • Number 7
Ban direct drug advertising?
To the editor:
I am a retired family physician whose only current contact with drug companies is as a consumer. I spent 15 years as a practitioner, 16 years as a residency director (I was a RAP consultant for eight years) and then 10 years as a full-time investigator for clinical drug trials.
One thing that I learned during my research years is that drug pricing is based on what the market will bear -- not on the cost of development. I heard one vice president of a major drug company state this in a closed meeting.
A major portion of current drug pricing is the cost of advertising prescription drugs to the public. This practice should be outlawed, and it is an area where practicing physicians can make an impact. Physician organizations, such as AAFP, should recommend to their members that they not prescribe such drugs if other drugs can be substituted without influencing quality of care.
Frank Snyder, M.D.
Albuquerque, N.M.From Title VII to NP issues
To the editor:
I'm not sure about my opinion of Title VII; however, we are oversupplied with primary care providers in our area.
In addition, the issue of nurse practitioners being equivalent to family physicians in their own eyes and in their advertising needs to be seriously addressed. We certainly don't need more primary care physicians if NPs are infiltrating everywhere and are not willing to work closely with doctors.
Randall Stoltz, M.D.
Evansville, Ind.
To the reader: Write us letters of 200 words or fewer (subject to editing), using the FP Report address pbinder@aafp.org or FP Report, 11400 Tomahawk Creek Parkway, Leawood, KS 66211-2672.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2001 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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