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A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has good and bad news on the effects of DTC advertising.  Researchers at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston surveyed 348 patients with various types of cancer and found that 86.2% of the three-quarters who responded were aware of...

A recent study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has good and bad news on the effects of DTC advertising.  Researchers at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston surveyed 348 patients with various types of cancer and found that 86.2% of the three-quarters who responded were aware of cancer-related DTC advertising and 56.8% said it helped them have better discussions with their physicians.

Almost two-thirds of those surveyed said the advertising informed them about treatment they were not aware of and 65.2% considered the advertising balanced.

So far, so good sounds like a veritable coup for DTC advertising proponents. But heres the part that will make the marketers among us cringe.

Despite the more than 50% whod said the DTC ads helped them have better discussion with their physicians, only 17.3% actually said they spoke about the advertised medications with their doctors or nurses. Worse yet, only 3% said they spoke about an advertised cancer medication with their healthcare provider and actually received a prescription for the medication.

Although patients with cancer are highly aware of cancer-related direct-to-consumer advertising, they report that it prompts few changes in therapy, the researchers said.

Certainly not what those who developed the advertising probably had in mind. So, lets keep an open mind maybe those afflicted with cancer are a different lot than the average patient. Fair enough, they probably are. But instinctively, I would think that cancer patients, faced with a scary and often deadly disease, might be more susceptible than most to the wiles of a well crafted DTC presentation of a drugs capabilities.  And if theyre not rushing to their physicians office and asking for the medical miracle were peddling, whats the likelihood that those with less desperate, if you will, situations like diabetes or psoriasis or high cholesterol are doing otherwise?

Call me over-reactionary, but I would say this study rings a death knell for DTC advertising. If DTC doesnt work with cancer patients, I would contend it wont work with anyone. Despite the mixed messages from patients about its usefulness in informing them about treatment options, the bottom line seems to be that it doesnt get them talking with their doctors and its not changing their healthcare path - or driving prescription sales for pharmas.

Or am I missing something?