Net Benefits: Finding sites that dispense impartial advice about drugs

Wall Street Journal ^ | 26 January 2004 | LAURA LANDRO

[shrinkermd]

Drug-company Web sites are the first stop for many consumers who want to research prescription medications. But where should they go to get an impartial perspective?

Last year, the pharmaceutical industry spent nearly $3 billion on direct-to-consumer advertising, up from less than $800 million in 1997. More than half of the 25 million consumers who visited pharmaceutical-company Web sites went to them in response to such advertising, typically television commercials, according to research firm Manhattan Research. The online visits outnumbered calls to toll-free numbers by almost 2 to 1. "The Internet increasingly represents a channel where consumers want to get information about drugs they are taking, or have an interest in taking in the future," says Mark Bard, who conducts Manhattan Research's Internet health studies.

[shrinkermd]

FYI. If you need to take a medication, you need to research and understand what you are taking.

[fourdeuce82d]

More than half of the 25 million consumers who visited pharmaceutical-company Web sites went to them in response to such advertising, typically television commercials

but..but..but...I thought the big icky pharma companies were evil, and wasted money on advertising, instead of spending it on drug research because they wanted to drive down shareholder value.../sarcasm