FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 352:325-328 January 27, 2005 Number 4 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text PDF PDA Full Text Supplementary Material Purchase this article Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited E-mail When Letters Appear PubMed Citation

Merck's withdrawal of rofecoxib from the market last September and Pfizer's announcement in December of possible cardiac risks associated with high doses of celecoxib reignited long-simmering controversies regarding drug promotion, in part because both cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors have been heavily marketed directly to consumers. Indeed, after discussion with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Pfizer suspended all direct-to-consumer advertising of celecoxib. Adding fuel to the fire is class-action litigation filed against AstraZeneca alleging that its direct-to-consumer advertising misrepresents the superiority of its proton-pump inhibitor esomeprazole over less expensive alternatives.

Although the information made public in these cases is probably incomplete, these . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Source Information

Dr. Berndt is a professor of applied economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Anderson, G. F., Chalkidou, K. (2008). Spending on Medical Care: More Is Better?. JAMA 299: 2444-2445 [Full Text]  
• Abel, G. A., Penson, R. T., Joffe, S., Schapira, L., Chabner, B. A., Lynch, T. J. Jr. (2006). Direct-to-Consumer Advertising in Oncology.. The Oncologist 11: 217-226 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Teerlink, J. R., Massie, B. M. (2005). Nesiritide and Worsening of Renal Function: The Emperor's New Clothes?. Circulation 111: 1459-1461 [Full Text]