More Happy Cancer Patients In Drug Ads, Please!
The FDA finally decided to notice what cancer patients have been screaming about for years. Drug ads trade in fantasy while patients trade in bills, side effects, and funeral planning. The crackdown is long overdue. A laundry list of players got called out because their "educational" content is about as educational as a Happy Meal toy insert.
Nobody wants to see a euphoric cancer patient spinning in a meadow or a a disco rave living their best life. It insults the intelligence of the people actually living with the disease.
And what does a bathtub on a beach have to do with your moderate-to-severe something something? (And who the hell actually says "moderate-to-severe" in commonspeak anyway?)
To quote a colleague, I would politely contend the industry's job is not louder ads but clearer ones, even in spite of the fact that the US is only one of two nations that even permit drug ads in the first place.
With that said, of course, the bar could not be lower. Stop peddling stock-photo joy and start telling the truth. The drug might extend life by four months. The side effects might wreck your body. The copay might force you to choose between medicine and rent. Those are facts patients need, not a fantasy reel shot in golden sunlight.
Industry pours billions into selling dreams while leaving patients to sort through prior auth, benefit verification, and financial toxicity.
The ad agencies make their margins, the executives pocket their bonuses, and the public thinks we're living in a world where chemotherapy means high-fiving your nurse on the way to Pilates.
Meanwhile, people die waiting for approval letters.
The FDA is late to this party, but better late than never. Now comes the test. Will pharma strip down the spin and communicate like human beings, or will they find new loopholes to sell the same lie with better graphics?
Patients deserve more than hollow branding campaigns.
SOURCE ➡️ https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-launches-crackdown-deceptive-drug-advertising