Docs Propose New Info Box for Drug Ads

Feb. 27, 2009— -- What do you really know about the drugs you're taking?

Dr. Steven Woloshin and Dr. Lisa Schwartz of Dartmouth University say that the answer for many people is "far too little." And they hope that a new study, which they plan to present to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today, will result in the addition of an easily comprehensible box of information on the benefits and risks of a drug to its direct-to-consumer advertisements.

In a report slated for publication in the Annals of Internal Medicine April 21, Woloshin and Schwartz study the effects of a "drug facts box" on consumer understanding of the medicine. The informational box outlines in plain terms the risks and benefits of a particular drug. It was printed on consumer-targeted advertisements for the drugs and displayed numerical tables that showed the benefits and risks of the advertised drug.

The researchers found that the consumers who received this additional information, on average, had a better understanding of the drug in question than those who did not.

"We think it is very important that consumers get credible, accessible information about how well drugs work and about their side effects," Woloshin says. "Otherwise, they really don't have the ability to participate meaningfully in important decisions such as, 'Do the potential benefits of this medication outweigh possible harms?'

"We think the net result of better information will be better decisions and better health."

Several experts say that having the extra information on printed ads would help consumers make healthier decisions.

"Most drugs only work for a fraction of people who take them and the benefits compared to placebo are often small," says Merrill Goozner, director of the Integrity in Science project at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest. "Giving people easily understood information about the actual benefits of drugs could help offset the unrealistic expectations created by direct-to-consumer advertising."