Source: British Medical Journal (UK) , No 7132 Volume 316 Contact: Sat, 28 Feb 1998 MARKETING OF ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS ATTACKED Drug companies in the United States are facing criticism for advertising psychotrophic drugs directly to the general public and to patients. One drug company is even offering university scholarships to schizophrenic patients who switch to their new antipsychotic drug. Last August the Food and Drug Administration changed the rules to allow advertisers to market drugs directly to the public, as long as they provided adequate information about a drug's indications and side effects, or the advertisement directed the consumer to where this information could be found. Consumers in the United States are now deluged with glossy pharmaceutical advertisements in magazines, on television, and on the internet. Eli Lilly has been inviting schizophrenic patients to switch over to its new antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa (danzapine), and offering university scholarships for those who do. The campaign was criticised for pressurising doctors to prescribe Zyprexa and for unduly raising the hopes of people with schizophrenia, as most of them cannot cope with the stresses of higher education. Interestingly, a similar scholarship offer by Eli Lilly for students with insulin dependent diabetes did not require the patient to be taking a Lilly product. Aggressive marketing of Zyprexa seems to have paid off as the new drug grossed $550m (£343m) in its first year of sales. Eli Lilly also sponsors a "psychoeducational" campaign for schizophrenic patients, which provides educational material and a social structure for patients and their families. Visitors to the Janssen pharmaceutical internet website are invited to register for drug updates, and people with schizophrenia who take Janssen's drug Risperdal (risperidone) can register for a person to person telephone call to remind them to take their medicine. While many of these initiatives may be laudable, Dr Sidney Wolfe of the consumer group Public Citizen warned that mentally ill people often have poor judgment and are therefore particularly vulnerable to advertisements. Manufacturers defend their direct advertisements as educational. Alan Holmer, the president of the pharmaceutical manufacturers association, said: "This is the information age, and more information empowers patients to have more meaningful conversations with their doctors about cures and treatments." The increase in direct public marketing has also resulted in higher treatment costs to deflect the price of advertising. Dr Sam Ho, the vice president for Pacificare Health Systems, a California based health maintenance organisation estimates that Prozac, the most widely promoted antidepressant drug, costs 50% more than similar, but less advertised drugs in its class. Prescriptions for antidepressant drugs have also reached record breaking rates in recent years. According to a recent study led by Dr Harold Pincus and reported in JAMA,the journal of the American Medical Association, the number of prescriptions for mental health problems rose from 32.7 million to 45.6 million from 1984 to 1994, with the greatest increase occurring for antidepressant drugs. Although it is unclear how much of this increase is due to direct drug marketing, many psychiatrists believe that up to 80% of the antidepressant prescriptions are unwarranted and are prescribed for people who are not clinically depressed. Others have attributed the increase to a greater acceptance of depression as an illness warranting medical attention, with a consequent reduction in stigma. Deborah Josefson San Francisco