Hammered by a wave of criticism over the way it handles direct-to-consumer advertising, the drug industry curtailed ad spending in the first six months of this year -- the first drop in six years. Overall spending per month slipped to $351 million from $358 million, a 2 percent drop. Overall spending had surged 20 percent in the past four years as the pharmaceutical industry has sought to shape consumer demand for drugs, some of which turned out to have hidden health threats. In response, the drug industry announced a set of voluntary limits on DTC advertising, though a host of critics maintain that the new code offers little real change.
- see the story from The Philadelphia Inquirer