Correspondence: Michael Friedman, Purdue Pharma L.P., One Stamford Forum, Stamford, CT 06901, USA. Tel: +1 (203) 588 7290; Fax: +1 (203) 588 6211; e-mail: michael.friedman@pharma.com

¹joined Purdue Pharma L.P. in 1985 as Vice President and Assistant to the President and Chairman. Prior to that, he spent 12 years in Sales and Marketing at Hilti Inc, where he held positions of increasing responsibility including Vice President of Marketing and Chief Operating Officer of Hilti's Pneumatic Fastening Systems Division. At Purdue, he was named Group Vice President in 1988, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in 1999 and President and CEO of Purdue Pharma in 2003. In this position, he directs and guides all company operations, including among others sales, marketing, licensing and business development and research and development. He holds a BA degree from Brooklyn College, an MBA from the University of Connecticut and a doctoral degree from Pace University.

²is Professor of Marketing at Pace University and has an MS and PhD from Cornell University. His academic interests include the Assessment of Integrated Media Communications Programs, Interactive Communications, Consumer and Trade Promotions, Performance of Direct Response Medium, Analysis of Price Behavior in Stock, Bond and Commodity Markets; Neural Network Analysis. He is on the Board of Directors at MarketFax. Inc and the Executive Board of the Westchester Cornell University Alumni Association.

Received 25 October 2006; Revised 25 October 2006.

Abstract

This paper examines attitudes of physicians toward direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs. Physician awareness of DTCA continues at a very high level, although, negative attitudes may impair its usefulness. This study identified shortcomings of DTCA and physician concerns that could be addressed by marketers. For example, three quarters of physicians agree strongly or somewhat that DTCA does not provide adequate information on the risks and benefits of advertised products. More than half of the physicians (53 per cent) believe DTCA results in many patients requesting unnecessary prescriptions and an even greater percentage (66 per cent) believe DTCA creates a preference for brands when lower-cost generics would be sufficient. The negativism of physicians should cause marketers to ask if their return on DTCA is worth the cost.