Considering the drugs can’t be obtained without a prescription anyway?
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Because we the people see something we think might help and call up the doctor for a prescription.
The cost of ad’s probably a tax write off as well.
Like many countries, it should be illegal to market pharmaceuticals directly.
To add to the other answer there are of course also drugs you can just buy without having a prescription. In that field you need advertisements to get your product to sell.
A couple ways:
– Let people know a condition exists and there may be a drug available to treat it. Say something like psoriasis… some may have it and think it’s just an annoying rash, use some OTC ointment on it vs. asking a doctor to look at it and possibly prescribe something.
– People on an existing drug for a condition might ask their doctor if a new med they’ve seen ads for will treat their condition better and/or without side effects they may have with current drug.
– New drugs cost a ton in R&D to develop, so the more quickly they can increase customers taking the drug, the more quickly they can amortize the development costs and get to their big profit window. Drugs formulations are only protected by patents for 20 years, after which other companies can make generic versions. So drug companies have that 20 year window to best profit off a drug. The more and more quickly they can find takers for chronic condition meds, the more they’ll make during that time.
“Hey doctor, I saw this ad for a drug. Is Hydrocopaflex right for me?”
The doctor may not have ever heard of the drug. He literally might go in the other room and look it up, or ask a colleague about it. Sees it’s approved to treat XYZ condition, and he writes a prescription for it.
Another way is that by establishing a strong brand, that’s the name that the doctor thinks of when he goes to write a prescription. It’s like an EpiPen. That’s a brand name. If he writes “auto-injectable epinephrine device” on the prescription, then you can get a generic version that is much cheaper. If he just writes “EpiPen”, then the pharmacy has to give you that brand.
Most of those ads say something along the lines of *”Ask your doctor of Superawesomemegatol is right for you!”*.
That’s basically it.
Doctors will generally have a bunch of prescriptions that they might default to for certain conditions, but if a patient comes in asking about a *specific* medication that fits roughly the same purpose then the doctor might choose to make the switch to that new medication for that patient (and if it works well for them might use it for more patients in the future).
All of the answers here are great at explaining why ads work. But they don’t mention the other side of the equation which is just as insidious of a problem, pharmaceutical sales reps and their deals with clinics/hospitals. Pharma reps will go to the clinics/hospitals with free samples of the drugs which they can “give” to people who might need them. And the doctors will be incentivized to give out as many samples and then actual scripts as possible, and the top doctors will be given free trips or other large prizes by the pharma company for doing so.
Because they’re super expensive and it doesn’t take many people to make some serious money.
Your doctor is probably aware of these drugs and the MUCH cheaper alternatives that are as effective (or almost as effective). He assumes that you care about money and prescribes you the cheaper equivalent drug. You eventually come back complain that you are not happy with the results of the cheaper medication he prescribed to you (because nothing works perfectly) and mention to the doctor the cool new drug with the catchy jingle your recently saw on the TV. The doctor tells you it is cool, but not much more effective that the drug he is already prescribing to you. You tell him nonsense! This drug has to be better that’s why it’s on TV. The doctor will eventually give you the prescription because it’s your money and you are free to waste it if you want.
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