Erective disfunction commercials: Last straw for big Pharma

[Hamlette]

I'm willing to cut Big Pharma some slack on keeping prices of our drugs high because R&D is expensive and I want them to keep researching.

But. Really. All day today. Non stop erectile disfunction commercials. Paid for by high prices on my prescription drugs. Get out of the friggin bedroom and get back to the flippin' lab!

Anyone else feeling bombarded?

[laylah]

1. Actually...

I am feeling FEAR of being "bombarded"...:silly:

Jenn

[el_gato]

35. that R&D expense is subsidized by our tax dollars

so I wouldn't fall into the line that they have high overhead

[Wickerman]

2. Certainly were a lot on Faux NewsHour this Am

when Rummy was on. Correlation? I think so. :evilgrin:

[xray s]

3. Don't buy their R&D line

It's bull. The government funds most research.

As for their obsession on the penis, just remember who runs the corporate world....a bunch of pricks!

[Kanary]

20. That needs to be repeated! R&D IS BULL!

Other countries don't even allow patents on medications, yet they are also discovering innovative treatments.

We need to demand better healthcare in the US!

Kanary

Another Delusional Diehard for Dennis!!

Kucinich 2004!

[blurp]

25. How about a reference for that?

I'm not saying you're wrong, but I would like to know where you found your information.

[PA Democrat]

27. Drug companies account for only about half of R&D expenditures

for the development of new drugs. The rest is funded by the federal govt., state govts, and private organizations, mostly non-profits.

Here's a source:

http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/econ/rp-faq.html

Also check out this:

"An internal NIH document obtained by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen shows scientists funded by the agency accounted for 55 percent of the research that resulted in the five top-selling drugs in 1995.

In addition, the NIH spent more than $1 billion on drug research in 1996 and 45 of the 50 top-selling drugs during 1992-1997 stemmed from NIH-funded research, the Boston Globe reported in 1998."

http://www.applesforhealth.com/HealthyFeatures/nihfunnewd4.html

Another HUGE consideration is that the government research spending is heavily weighted to diseases and conditions that carry the most serious health risks, like cancer, heart disease, AIDS, etc. Contrast that to drug companies R&D spending to "improve" existing drugs so they can extend their patents, or to develop drugs for erectile dysfunction. The difference in R&D spending is not just quantitative, but also qualitative.

[Another Bill C.]

4. It comes in all kinds of forms.

I took my mom to the doctor on Friday. There was a box of what looked like Kleenex tissues only it was labeled "Cialis." I asked the nurse if the tissues has special powers. She got kind of flustered and didn't give me a direct answer.

[havocmom]

5. Have trouble relating, being female and all, but am worried about the

American male. You fellas really having so much trouble that the constant barrage of adds and spam email are justified? I would think not.

But in case there is a mass problem of this <ahem> delicate nature, I would think a more robust economy and hopefulness about the future might actually be more helpful than a lot of drugs.

My guess is Big Pharma just wants everybody to be afraid the next guy is just doing better so they will buy a pill. Sad world if such marketing works.

[Lars39]

9. You just said the key word: afraid. Viagra commercials = fear.

What better way to make guys feel fear than to make them think, "this, too, will happen to you"?

[mulethree]

6. Dunno, half these ads so vague ..

Whats that football coach drug for "staying in the game" about? no clue.
At any given time there are 4-6 drug commercials playing that really don't come out and say they are good for xxxxx ailment.

I suspect the AMA or some other Doctors group must be in cahoots. Something like the Doctors will push these drugs instead of cheaper drugs or drugless treatments, and the Drug companies will keep suggesting people talk to their doctor to find out what it is they are actually selling.

[frank frankly]

7. if you're watching the commercials, you are doomed

there are nasty little things in those commercials that are even worse than you think. the word of subliminals is a large and well researched one.

the human psyche is very vulnerable to propaganda.

at the least, mute the commercials.

but, yes, those specifically are 100000000% fucked up.

someday, we will say to the grandkids, "i remember when people had sex without pills"

[havocmom]

11. Visions of the Woody Allen movie "Sleeper"

and the orgasmatron... Now there would be an invention worthy of a patent!

[ex_jew]

8. Maybe big profits from dick-aids are plowed back into real medical researc

It could be.

[IrateCitizen]

32. Yeah. Medical research for more "dick-aids"....

Big Pharma will choose to research things that bring profits. Vanity drugs bring much, much more in profits than anything that actually cures a disease.

[Safi]

10. I hate big pharma and all their commercials BUT that one

with the Japanese businessmen with the subtitles is awesome. The look on the white guy's face is funny as hell.

[DemoTex]

12. My favorite caveat of the erectile dysfunction commercials:

"An erection lasting longer than four hours is a serious medical side-effect." Great. Watch the erectile dysfunction drugs become among the most abused in the country, by young healthy men. The idea of a four-hour erection could be quite ineluctable to a 22 year-old man.

[havocmom]

13. ya beat me too it...

that little disclaimer is pretty funny. I was watching something the other evening while Havocdad was in the den using the computer. The disclaimer about "a 4 hour erection requires immediate medical attention" came on and the voice from the den said, "Gee, ya think?"

[Piperay]

23. I laugh my ass off every-time I hear

that commercial. I can just see some poor slub guy going to the doctor and saying "gee doc it just won't go down", waaaaaaa. :silly: Maybe I would be more sympathetic if I was a guy but I get so sick and tired of those commercials plus being spammed to death with penis enlargement shit. :puke:

[WillyT]

26. "Help, I've Gotten Up, And It Won't Fall Down!"

Sorry.

:evilgrin:

[IrateCitizen]

33. I remember 4-hour erections being normal...

... when I was in the 17-22 age range.

Well, maybe not constant over those four hours -- but the lulls in between certainly didn't last too long!

[BiggJawn]

38. And just what is the doctor gonna do?

Turn an over-sexed 20-y-o Candy Striper loose on you?

One could only hope, eh?

[barbaraann]

14. Perhaps they want American men to get "koro."

"Koro is a psychological disorder characterized by delusions of penis shrinkage and retraction into the body, accompanied by panic and fear of dying. This delusion is rooted in Chinese metaphysics and cultural practices. The disorder is associated with the belief that unhealthy or abnormal sexual acts (such as sex with prostitutes, masturbation, or even nocturnal emissions) disturb the yin/yang equilibrium which allegedly exists when a husband has sex with his wife, i.e., during "normal intercourse." This disturbance of metaphysical harmony (loss of yang) manifests itself in penis shrinkage. Yang is the vital essence of the male and when inappropriately expelled, it is believed, the result is a potentially fatal dose of koro."
...

http://skepdic.com/koro.html

[BiggJawn]

36. Isn't that why Hemmingway killed himself?

I read that he believed that you only had so many orgasms in ya, and when you popped your last spunk, you died. and he thought he was getting close to the bottom of the barrel and wanted to go out on "his terms"....

[OneBlueSky]

15. personally, I think that the marketing and advertising of drugs . . .

of any kind to the general public should be outlawed . . . give the information to the physicians and let them prescribe the drugs they feel are warranted . . . consumers don't have the training or knowledge to make any kind of judgement about what drugs they need or don't need . . . they're just responding to the slick ads when they tell their doctors that they need this pill or that . . .

[Skittles]

16. I ABSOLUTELY AGREE

DOCTORS should get this info and decide what is best for their patients.

[PA Democrat]

28. America is the exception to allowing this type of advertising

There is only ONE other developed country that permits drug companies to market directly to consumers.

[shekina]

17. If I see one more

of those Smiling Bob commericials I'm going to slap the first republican I see. Cause that's the main consumer of all those types of drugs anyway.

[Nobody]

18. Why are they marketing prescription drugs to consumers?

Only doctors can prescribe drugs. It's illegal to go from doctor to doctor to get drugs, specifically controlled substance drugs.

Consumers don't make the decision about whether a drug is right for you, your doctor does. You have input and get to ask a ton of questions (and should very much ask lots of questions) but only the doctor can write that prescription for you.

Last time I checked, viagra was by prescription only.

[strategery blunder]

19. I saw an article that said marketing accounts for 20% of drug costs

in Reader's Digest a couple of years back.

Cut the ads, drug prices fall by 20%.:puke:

[FlaGranny]

30. I doubt the drug prices would fall by the same amount - BUT

have you considered that those drug ads are not so much for the consumer (although getting the consumer to beg doctors for certain drugs doesn't hurt the companies). What they are really for is big bucks to the TV networks for "consideration." Big pharmaceuticals want the networks on their side. One big back-slapping fraternity.

[strategery blunder]

42. Well, in an IDEAL world the curtailment of drug marketing

would lead to lower costs.

Unfortunately, we have far too many money-worshippers in this country, not the least of which are Big Pharma and TV execs.

[DeepModem Mom]

21. Wonder if this is one issue where right and left...

could agree, and let the drug companies know that we're getting tired of seeing these ads, and explaining them to our kids --

[chikin]

29. Oh, the hypocrisy of it all...

Help me figure this out:

OK - Thinly-veiled ads running at any and all times of the day for pills that either increase the size of the male genitalia or allow it to obtain turgidity for the purposes of having sex, but

BAD - Showing any naked part of the human body on television for even the briefest of seconds when (gasp!) kids could be watching?

Is that right?

You are exactly right, DeepModem Mom--so we're supposed to be up in arms because Janet's boob was exposed during the Super Bowl and we have to 'explain it to the kids', but it's perfectly fine to have to explain to them that some men feel inferior that their willies are a little too small or weak to be able to properly roger their wives/girlfriends/mistresses?

I'll bet a lot of 'family first' Republicans love these pills so they and their mistresses can go at it all night long...

[DeepModem Mom]

34. Welcome, chikin!

Excellent "rant," as we call a hard-hitting (so to speak) post like yours, here at DU --

[newyawker99]

43. Hi chikin!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[JVS]

22. If an impotence cure can't rely on word of mouth...

then people must have completely quit talking around the water cooler

[xchrom]

24. first, give me some valium.

there, now i feel better and i can watch viagra tv.
ya know -- i'm glad it's out there -- but ya get nervous watching it all the time.
where's woody allen?

[FlaGranny]

31. I have noticed a bunch of new ads recently

that aren't even for prescription drugs. I think the vitamin/health food industry has also begun to run the same kind of slick ads as the pharmaceutical industry, like the ads for Avlimil(sp?) for women, or that other one that's supposed to increase your energy. I'll bet if you looked at the ingredients on either one, you'd find the same products at GNC for a whole lot less.

[havocmom]

41. Seems the big drug companies are getting into supplements

more and more, especially since their efforts to get them banned keep failing. And they noticed they are not selling many drugs to the millions without medical insurance who rely on self treatment with herbals and supplements in attempts to maintain health.

[Touchdown]

37. The Pharm Cos. are just responding to the times.

I know it's difficult for me to get it up, when I see Chimpy's face on TV all the time, so I imagine it's true of most men.:evilgrin:

EDIT:That Chimpy remark was not a pun on spanking the monkey.

[Eurobabe]

39. yes, truly disgusting

they have a cow over janet's nipplegate, but then subject little kids to the words:

"side effects include ERECTIONS lasting longer than 4 hours..."

Mommy WHAT's an ERECTION???

[havocmom]

40. OK, I've made a break through on this one!

Americans are getting fatter, right? Since we tend to live along the river, de-nial, the reason more and more gentlemen think their willies are in need of expansion is cuz they can see less and less over their bellies? And since us women are having the same fat issues, the human willie is expected to reach across more area than it was originally designed for.

Then there is the age thing. Many of us boomers just refuse to accept normal processes of aging. Dat thang don't work like it did when you were 17. Maybe keeping a mate in one's own generational group would help on this one. Face it, 40 does not go into 20 as often as 20 goes into 20. (but for the ladies, the math is better: 20 goes into 40 much better :evilgrin:)

OK, pelt me with cyber-spit-balls now

I still think it is part of the conditioning to assume the answers to all of life's problems can be bought. In order to sell more, companies spend much $$ learning how to make us worry about more and more 'problems'.