Why do we allow prescription drugs to be advertised and marketed?

[still_one]

21. I actually don't have any issue with that. For one thing though a marketing mechinism, it is a way

to inform the patient what is out there, and since it these are prescriptions they need to inquire to with their physician their thoughts on it

Everyone of those adds make it clear it may not be appropriate for everyone, and they need to consult with their physician if it is appropriate for them.

Also you assumption that healthcare professionals will always prescribe the correct medications is not always accurate, and being an informed public consumer is important. That is why people need to get second opinions, understand the risk/rewards, read and evaluate the clinical trials, etc. so they can make an informed decision. There are a lot of newer treatments where a lot of older physician are resistant to adopt, some for good reasons, but some because they are set in their ways.

There are a lot of autoimmune conditions out there where long term steroids have and are being used to control their condition, and in many case keep them alive. The problem is that long term steroid use can have some very adverse affects. Again the risk/reward factor comes into play. Where the trend is now going because those serious side effect from long term steroid use it the use of metabolic or biologics, which are immuno-depressives, with the goal of reducing or able to stop the oral steroids, and in some cases achieve a remission. Of course these immuno-depressives have their own issues, and some folks can't take them, but it is important that a patient is a aware of what their options are, and to assume that your healthcare professional will provide those options to you with the associated risk/rewards, is NOT a good assumption. For one reason many doctors have limited time with their patients, and they don't always provide all the options, some because they themselves are not aware of them.

An informed patient is a good thing

Where the problems come in is when drug companies push their products on physicians, giving them kick backs. First of all that is illegal, but it happens more frequently than we like to admit.