Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Marketing Industry Faces Uncertain Future.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing spending by the pharmaceutical industry totaled nearly $4.5 billion in 2004, reaching its highest one-year total yet, according to Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Marketing 2005: Controversies Continue, a new report released from Kalorama Information.

However, the withdrawal of high profile products like Merck’s Vioxx, the suspension of Pfizer’s DTC campaigns for Celebrex, and a variety of business, regulatory, and consumer trends have
begun to call into question the future of the DTC market.

Direct-to-Consumer Pharmaceutical Marketing 2005: Controversies Continue reports that although DTC expenditures by pharmaceutical marketers has been on a dramatically rising course, strong forces are beginning to emerge that will undoubtedly limit growth in the coming years and possibly cause the market to contract.

“Even before the controversies surrounding the Cox-2 inhibitors, it was becoming clear that the future of DTC marketing in the United States would not be ‘more of the same,'” notes Joan Cavanagh, the author of the report.

“Widespread criticism from physicians, payers, legislators, and regulators; public outcry over the saturation of the airwaves, particularly with erectile dysfunction product ads; and highly debatable ROI assessments point to slowing growth even the rosiest of scenarios.”

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