As a follow-up post to "Consumer Health and Safety Or Pharma's Bottom Line", the New York State legislature recently proposed to eliminate the learned intermediary doctrine for prescription drugs or devices that are marketed through direct-to-consumer marketing. Here is the bill. It makes complete sense. From the text of the Bill: "Historically, with regard to prescription drugs, our courts have created an exception to the traditional duty of manufacturers to warn consumers directly of risks associated with their products because they warned health care providers of those risks. This made sense in an era of "doctor knows best," when pharmaceutical manufacturers directed all of their sales efforts at physicians and never at consumers.
In light of the recent, and expensive, mass marketing of prescription drugs, manufacturers should no longer be relieved of the duty to properly warn their advertising targets about the dangers of their products. Just as the manufacturer can make direct claims about the efficacy of its products, so should that manufacturer warn of its risks. By advertising directly to the patient, manufacturers make the patient an active participant in the decision to use the drug and cannot, therefore, claim the potential adverse effects of using the drug are so complex that they can only be communicated to physicians." We'll have to wait and see how the New York State legislature responds to this bill. In the meantime, call your local state representative and encourage them to introduce a similar, common sense, consumer friendly bill in your home state.
